The Ghost Woman and the Huntsmen
by hippiechick2112
Summary: Danielle Mitchell was chosen to go to Xavier's school and to be part of the X-Men at an early age. Enmeshed in conspiracy, she harbors a secret, a threat to the school that continues to haunt her...and her demons.
1. I Promise

**The Ghost Woman and the Huntsmen**

**Note and Disclaimer: I obviously don't own anything from _X-Men_, but the extra characters are mine. This is the first story of two (so far) of the series, "Unspoken". I also give credit to the quotes before, both from the original movies and from Chris Claremont's novelization of _X-Men 2_. I also apologize ahead of time if this is slow at first, but I am going by character biographies from both the movies and comics and explaining new characters and some of the plot. Introduction will be a few chapters, but I'm hoping to get to the present day characters as soon as possible, probably by chapter 3. Thank you for your patience!**

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_Mutants. Since the discovery of their existence, they have been regarded with fear, suspicion and often hatred. Across the planet, debate rages: Are mutants the next link in the evolutionary chain…or simply a new species of humanity fighting for their share of the world? Either way, one fact has been historically proven: Sharing the world has never been humanity's defining attribute…_

**August 1, 1984**

Charles Xavier and Eric Lehnsherr have been on several trips to persuade parents to have their children with mutant powers sent to Xavier's school, although the latter was bent more on a mutant brotherhood than a school. Although the school was said to be for the gifted children, it boasted of many mutants, finally educated, with a family amongst new friends and able to harness their powers with responsibility. Some took more time than others to adjust and become adapted to a world that did not scorn them, nor try to treat them like they had an illness, but Xavier savored every successful student he had, mourning all those who he could not help.

Eric Lehnsherr, however, could not say the same thing. Scorned as a mutant who can manipulate the magnetic field and metals and sent to seen one of the worst atrocities man and mutant had ever seen, he lived his life in bitterness. Numbered as an animal, on the run with his parents and then later watching as his family was killed, Eric Lehnsherr was nothing more than a man who was blamed for nothing for than being either a mutant or a man. He went down a darker path than most people, but he was a gentleman at heart…if only Xavier could reach him better.

Later, Lehnsherr had separated himself from Xavier when he had achieved his goal of killing the one man who had pushed him to revenge. Often harassing Xavier himself after the accident on the beach, the two were both friends and enemies. While helping to build Cerebro and locating some mutants to build the school, Lehnsherr wanted to decimate the human race using Xavier's powers, but was denied that opportunity. The two split once more, but Lehnsherr was keen on keeping tabs with his old friend, dangling Mystique (or Raven, as Xavier known her a long time before) in front of him on occasion or joining Xavier on his quests to find hope, if he felt there was some.

On this occasion, Xavier had found something extraordinary. Well, one his students had.

Jayden Mitchell, whose little sister Danielle was some years younger than he was, was the target of their mission today. Jayden, mostly called Jay by his friends and instructors alike, had developed his powers when he was a child when he was frightened into a corner by his father, a Vietnam veteran and a mutant going by the name of Chameleon. Fifteen and intent on a military career when he turned eighteen because of the good he thought it would do, Jayden protected his sister with a fierceness that surprised Xavier, also the same focus he put into his studies and his powers.

Xavier knew that mutant families, especially parents who were both mutants, often passed the gene to their children, but he didn't expect Jayden to have a power that rivaled his schoolmate some years younger than him, Jean Grey. Not only did Jayden have some teke powers, but he also was a telepath and could block anyone from reading his mind, even thought he was not as powerful as Jean or Xavier himself. In addition, Jayden could turn himself invisible, almost like a ghost, flashing red eyes on occasion when he wanted to be seen when he was undetectable.

Worse yet, Xavier thought as he and Lehnsherr parked the car and walked up to the porch of the small countryside farmhouse, was the family curse, one that passed from his mother, Shannon. Other than the human disease of depression that everyone in the family had, Shannon's mutant family (stretching back several generations, Xavier knew) passed on a power that slowed down their age by choice. The family could also choose when they could die, even when not sick or injured. They could let nature and a human calendar follow its own course and allow chance to let them live and die, but the choice to die was always theirs.

"Why does the Grim Reaper seem to visit this home so often?" Lehnsherr asked Xavier with a shiver as the latter knocked on the door.

"Maybe your imagination, Eric?" Xavier suggested humorously, smiling when he saw that Jayden answered the door. "Ah, Jayden, it's nice to see you here."

The words sounded awkward, especially since Jayden was on a small summer vacation from school and was expected to be home, but if Xavier saw anything in his eyes that showed it, it was not there. Instead, the teenager moved aside so that the two elderly mutants could come into the door. Although Xavier was without his customary wheelchair, he chose to use his powers in the home that did not have the space to cater to his wheelchair. Walking with Lehnsherr into the home and landing in the Mitchell's kitchen, the two looked around, expecting to see what Jayden had in store for them, but they could not possibly fathom what he told Xavier over the phone just the other day concerning Danielle.

Xavier was tempted to use his telepath powers to see what was going on because the tension in the room was severe, but chose not to. Instead, he looked to Jayden for some answers. The teenager already was squirming under Xavier's gaze, the usual even when he was in school and some attention was paid to him, and he excused himself to get his sister Danielle. He yelled that the two settle themselves in the living room, where there was some hot tea and condiments, and to wait until he could coax Danielle out of her room.

"Coax the child?" Lehnsherr exclaimed sarcastically as he and Xavier eased into the living room, sitting down on the couch together. "If this is all this visit is about, why all the fuss? I thought little Danielle was only a child. She shouldn't have powers, if that's what the case is."

"Five years old, I believe," Xavier replied, ignoring Lehnsherr's sarcasm, as he poured himself some tea. Sipping and then pouring a cup for Lehnsherr as well (knowing that his friend would ignore it), he added, "There was something in the tone of Jayden's voice that made me pause. He said it was urgent that I come over and see his sister."

"And you didn't try to read him?" Lehnsherr sneered, almost snorting in his English accented voice. "What makes this one so special? Jean Grey you thought was special, although you've had to restrict her darker powers. Jayden Mitchell? The boy's a military fanatic, intent on joining the human race in destroying his own species."

"With all due respect, Eric, the boy is trying to bridge a gap, from humans to mutants, by his joining the Army," Xavier corrected calmly, sounding as if they've had the conversation before. "He thought that he would start in the same place his father had, even though his father had disappeared some time ago."

"And good riddance to him, Charles. The man was a menace to his family, conning that young Congressman there to eradicate his own flesh and blood."

"Congressman Leon Ellis, you mean?"

"Yes, that man. He is the same one who is reintroducing that Mutant Registration Bill, the one that will chain us down with nothing but numbers on our arms."

Xavier knew that the bill was pushed on them time and again, but nothing came of it. He also knew that Eric might be exaggerating a little bit, but his fears were not unfounded. Leon Ellis was a man to be handled and one to be handled with care. He had been in Vietnam with Chameleon, in the same unit in fact, and the two had been friends, buddies that slept back-to-back in the mud, rain and jungle. However, somewhere during the tour or shortly afterward, Chameleon had admitted to be a mutant, saving Ellis' life on several occasions with his abilities without Ellis knowing what had happened, and he was scorned for it. While Chameleon literally disappeared time and again, permanently just a few years ago, Ellis had rose as a Congressman, shedding his friendship with the mutant and speaking out against them.

When Lehnsherr was about to retort again, Jayden had come to the living room, swift and silent as the ghost he was. Behind him, a chubby shadow hiding behind his lanky legs, was Danielle. With dark auburn hair, hazel eyes and a girlish figure already, the child promised to be a great beauty like her mother before her, but hid all of it behind a mask of timidity.

"And who do we have here, Jayden?" Lehnsherr asked, but he knew who was behind the young teenager.

"This is Danielle," Jayden replied, moving aside so that the little girl was front and center to the two men.

Xavier immediately saw the blatant fear in Danielle's eyes. Without moving from his seat on the couch, he leaned forward, tea cup on the table. He stared at her gently, caressing her face as if his hand had been next to it, and calmed her greatly. Instantly, he then felt her mind wandering, not penetrating anyone's mind, and knew the power she held if she had. It was as if Danielle was running in circles, as she normally did as a child, but without knocking on anyone's door.

_Or the mind, in this case_, Xavier thought.

"It's ok, Danielle," Jayden said to encourage her. "Show them what you can do. Be responsible about it, just like I told you."

Without warning, the child disappeared into thin air. Within seconds, red eyes matching her brother's appeared without a body to match it. Then, she popped back into the living room, normal as can be.

"Amazing," Lehnsherr commented, folding his hands together, as if in prayer. He was contemplating something, but Xavier had no desire to know what it was…yet.

"The same abilities you have, I take it?" Xavier asked, still keeping Danielle quiet with the gentleness he surrounded her with.

"Yes, and more," Jayden replied, shaking his head nervously. "There's more, Professor."

"What do you mean?" Xavier asked, still keeping his eyes on Danielle.

Jayden then looked at his sister, taking her hand. Nodding to her, the two concentrated on some power within them. Soon, the room turned cold. The two had since disappeared, but two sets of black eyes showed instead of red. A telepathic and then a telekinetic power, much more commanding than Xavier's ever will be, showed itself as objects lifted themselves without warning. A shield of blue and silver surrounded the two. Xavier and even Lehnsherr felt forces inside of their head, never penetrating their thoughts or memories, but letting them know of a presence that had to be reckoned with.

Xavier put a stop to the small menace the two were causing as soon as he regained some control of himself. Quickly squashing the one into two, the siblings reappeared, their shield gone. Objects soon dropped back into their original places, some of them breaking. The teapot had been smashed even, landing near Lehnsherr's feet. Tea splattered all over the floor.

"I'm sorry, Professor," Jayden said, embarrassed as he let go of his sister's hand. "I had to tell you. I mean, I had to show you."

"No, Jayden, you did fine," Xavier said. Then, as he looked to Danielle, he smiled. "Danielle, would you like to join your brother next month?"

"Me?" The little girl was incredulous, not knowing what to say.

"You will be with Jayden," Xavier replied as Lehnsherr gaped at Danielle and Jayden with plain interest. "You'll be learning, just like you do in school, and to also learn to control your powers."

"A little young, I'd say, Charles," Lehnsherr commented quietly, but it was not loud enough for the children to hear.

"Regardless of age, I see a potential in you and Jayden," Xavier continued, ignoring Lehnsherr. "Even as powerful as you both are, you can learn to work as a team together, then with other people who have powers just as strong as yours."

Danielle did not know what to say. So much was happening so fast for her. She looked to Jayden for answers, but he had none for her except his usual "Follow your instincts" line. He knew her obligations to their mother, but this was a chance to be away from all of that and to be happy. She had a chance to be a normal child, with others who were just as strange as she was, and to start an education that was going to waste being raised by her mother.

Xavier felt her worries radiating through him, despite the calm he cocooned her with. Getting up from the couch, he kneeled in front of Danielle, using of his powers to keep from collapsing in front of her. Later, she will learn and understand what had happened and why it was important to control a power that held so much responsibility.

"We'll take care of your mother too," he reassured her as he put his hands on her shoulders. "You'll see."

"Promise?" Danielle asked.

Xavier smiled. "I promise."


	2. Nevermore

**Ten Years Later**

Underground in the mansion itself, Danielle followed Xavier into another room, gaping at this tunnel and that, from one display to another. But there was an interior motive to being away from her Physics class. He had previously called her out of the boring lecture that was a prelude to a test, asking that she follow him below, someplace she hadn't been to before. Curious and not bothering to read his mind about the matter, Danielle obeyed him, astonished to be below, where Xavier trained his students, most of them for his team called X-Men. She even did not hide her feelings, especially when Xavier conveyed her to a private room, a long one of some sort, and saw the door close behind her.

"You may be wondering why I asked you here," Xavier began somewhat earnestly as he faced her, a small smirk on his face that Danielle had not seen before.

"I guess you can say that, Professor," Danielle replied, looking around the barren room.

"And you did not read my mind?"

Danielle saw the test in Xavier's eyes immediately. "No, Sir, I did not. I do not without permission. You, of all people, should know that."

Xavier seemed to have ignored the response, but Danielle saw some approval behind the façade. "Well, what I am about to propose to you then, Danielle, is something that has given me faith in you. The others surely will not agree, but I can see the courage and will in you if you accept."

Xavier then allowed Danielle into his mind, connecting her to him as she freed her mind and took his helping hand. What she saw in there was surprising, to say the least, and one that almost made her balk.

"Become one of the X-Men?" she gasped as she pulled out.

"Jayden works at one of the local bars," Xavier explained slowly, shaking his head from the exercise as he started in on the assignment, as if it was homework for one of her classes. "He's been a broken man since he came back to us, but he's not to be alone this time. I need you to go and accompany him when your studies allow you and to look around his place of employment. There may be something more there than I think."

"You mean, the bar that allows mutants in because the owner is one?"

"Yes, Danielle, that very same one. You've shown me how much you can work with a team, despite how young you are and despite the physical handicaps you've had since you were a child. You have intelligence, cunning knowledge of the world around you and a teammate who would do anything to protect you and his own."

Danielle thought to the child Jayden and his now-dead wife, Fiona, had conceived together, the son that Jayden barely sees initially because he was overseas, but lately because of his job as a bouncer at the bar and working for Xavier. The little boy, Jackson, was constantly lost, clingy when she had to leave, but was always loved and he loved in return. He was currently living with relatives of Fiona's because the state of New York and the VA thought that Jayden was too unstable to have custody, but Jayden took him as often as he could.

"What could possibly be there for me to investigate?" Danielle asked, somehow knowing the answer, but wanting to hear it from Xavier.

"The owner of the bar, Phineas Teller, has been contacting Senator Leon Ellis and some of his colleagues in Washington and vice versa," Xavier briefed. "Teller was more of a friend of your father's to be exact, but has stated that he has not seen or heard from Chameleon since you were three. Senator Ellis, in the meantime, has been working against mutants for some years now, ever since he left Vietnam, and to be in touch with someone, especially a mutant, is cause for some questioning."

"And you need me to check it out?"

"With Jayden, yes. I also have him following leads as to why Ellis is now digging through records. I will also have Jean follow you, if you need the additional assistance."

"What kinds of records are we talking about, Professor?"

"That's another thing I need you to find out, Danielle. The two are deep in something and we need to find out what before the mutant or human community faces another disaster."

Danielle opened her mind, thinking out loud to Xavier. _And you believe that Ellis is after my family. He's been looking for my father through Teller, hasn't he? The three are connected through one person and that is Chameleon._

_It's a good theory, Danielle, but why would he need Chameleon?_

_He disappears and makes things invisible with him, doesn't he? My father can be used as a weapon for something, pit one group against another because of it._

_Yes, he can do that. But do you think that Ellis could be using mutants against mutants? Magneto has used it before, but he used them against humans._

_Professor, anything in this world is possible. Great power means great responsibility. And who the hell is Magneto?_

"Eric Lehnsherr," Xavier said out loud, ignoring Danielle's soft obscenity. "Danielle, Chameleon has been gone for years. Even I can't track him down. It might be for the better for you and Jayden, but if Phineas Teller has been with Senator Ellis and the latter is searching for means to destroy us and the humans as well as trying to use your father, we need to know and stop the threat before it explodes into something larger."

Danielle thought for a moment without opening up to Xavier, to ponder not just what was happening, but also the offer. There were too many possibilities to the problem, too many ways to go about it. Already, she was thinking and talking with Xavier like she was joining Xavier's X-Men, like she was a part of the team now. She shook her head with the thoughts. No, it was more of a debate, the ethics of a situation while in class and not a crime that might be committed at any time outside the school walls. She was too young, fifteen years old, and not ready to be wrapped up in the real world yet.

She had enough on her plate at home as it was.

Xavier saw Danielle's inner mêlée without reading her mind. "Danielle, I know how difficult it is to be inwardly struggling. You are more than worthy to be part of the X-Men, even if you are young, inexperienced with the intrigue and feel insignificant compared to the others. I also know about what has been happening at home while you're not there."

Danielle was startled, looking to Xavier for some answers to what he was talking about, to see if there was a light at the end of the tunnel, but she found nothing but the same kindness Xavier emulated to her since they met. She then became embarrassed momentarily, as her brother was before her, for others seeing into their lives, but held onto a stoic piece of herself to betray nothing. Her only response without control afterward had been tears, but even those had been spent elsewhere. She was dry of emotion.

"Your brother can only hold so much," Xavier continued. "Not only does he need your help, but we need yours. The Raven cannot fly alone, you know, Bluejay."

Unaware of the movement, Danielle protectively put her right hand on her left shoulder, to hide the tattoo of the raven drawn on her from some time back. Jayden had a matching one on the same shoulder of a blue jay, to mark their connection as siblings and the sharers of power. How Xavier knew of the nicknames (and perhaps the bodily markings), Danielle could not fathom. She even never thought of telling anyone about the awesome powers she shared with her brother nor of the bond they had.

Xavier was right though. It had been a long journey from boot camp to Kuwait and back home again, but Jayden was certainly a man in need of some help. Deeper and darker was their relationship since Jayden came home from the Middle East a changed man. Danielle had taken some time to learn of the blackened recesses of his mind, to learn what now make him tick and why, but there was no way to. His mind had been as blocked of images and other Army doings. He said nothing, his once violet eyes now murky with confusion, discomfort and sadness. Where once there was a man that would protect, there was one that was broken.

Working at the bar as a bouncer had given Jayden something to do, but it was also a position that enabled him to keep an eye on some of the mutant community and the gossip that came with it.

"Professor, when do you need me to go?" Danielle finally asked, clearing her mind of all incriminating evidence of her misdeeds. She gave no indication that she was refusing him, but a couple of stanzas from "The Raven" had given her some direction.

"_Prophet!" said I. "Thing of evil! – prophet still, if bird or devil!__  
__"By that Heaven that bends above us – by that God we both adore –__  
__"Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,__  
__"It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore –__  
__"Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels name Lenore?"__  
__Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."_

_"Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting –__  
__"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!__  
__"Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!__  
__"Leave my loneliness unbroken! – quit the bust above my door!__  
__"Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"__  
__Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."_

"Don't you have a Physics test next week and a US History paper due the day after tomorrow?" Xavier asked in return, chuckling as he did.

"Ok, after all that, I can go?" Danielle was eager to start.

"I'm sure you can."

Xavier said nothing afterward, but pondered about the student before him as she squirmed under his gaze. Perhaps it was nostalgia that had brought her here or perhaps it was the unique mutants she and Jayden had become. Whatever it was, Xavier was sure that he found a woman that was capable and more than willing to be not only responsible with herself, but also with her brother. Jayden was a man daunted by nightmares of death and destruction. His sister, a much younger angel of innocence, can balance the scales for a while.

_Before she became just as guilty as he is. Danielle Mitchell can be the ying to his yang, but it will take little to take that innocence away._

"Professor, did you hear what I said?"

Xavier, in the awkward silence that ensued, did not hear Danielle.

"Yes, Danielle?"

"I asked if I could be excused. I'm sure Scott is wondering where I am now."

"Oh, it's that time for your next class?" Xavier lost all track of time, seeing that the last one was now here. "I'm sorry, Danielle. I'll talk with Scott about your tardiness if there is an issue."

"Thank you, Professor." Danielle turned to leave, changing her eyes color and flashing her friendly mutant red ones at Xavier as she did. Her body, however, remained visible to the naked eye.

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**Ok, so I lied. There's one more intro chapter before I get to the present day. I'm sorry for the slowness in how it's going, but I didn't think the chapters would be this long. As always...please review? :)**


	3. Riddles of Destruction

**Three Years Later**

There had been blood all over her tank top, flannel shirt and down her pants. Xavier could have sworn he saw some of her sandals, but could not tell because of how she hid her feet under his desk. All he saw before him was a teenager – now a woman of some means – that had been a sister to a soldier, student and graduate of his school and part of the X-Men team. Now, she was just as broken as a limp doll, hanging her head in shame as she blurted to him during one of the classes she interrupted that she had something important to tell him, Jean Grey behind her for obvious support. That something had been deadly surely, but it was to Xavier's relief that she was not hurt or killed. Danielle's lame left knee and severe vertigo was controlled through her powers, but the pain cannot always be held sway.

Someone else obviously had been killed in her place.

"What happened, Danielle?" Xavier asked her gently as he excused his other students, caressing her with the same ease he had when she was five years old and frightened of him and Lehnsherr.

Tears sprung from her eyes. Sobs escaped her lips. Jean, behind her without the tears (but they threatened to be her downfall too), put a forthcoming hand on her shoulder for comfort as Danielle sat down in one of the chairs, but it did nothing to alleviate the pain. Hazel eyes turned to red and back again over and over. Auburn hair that had been the pride and joy of the teenager was now littered with blatant strings of white that managed to dye itself within hours, mingled with the blood of another.

The innocence had come to an end. It was a swift fall, but it was a hard one too.

"He's dead, Professor," Jean said softly as Danielle continued to sob. "Jay is dead."

Xavier's face fell. "I was afraid of this," he began, not knowing what else to say. Thoughts swirled around that the young man had taken the easy way out and tortured himself before his sister before deciding to die, but Xavier doubted that theory.

Something more sinister was afoot.

"Senator Ellis…" Danielle started, but ended, her crying taking up so much energy that words failed her, but could not erase the scene in her mind that she could not share with anyone. It was one she was not likely to forget for the rest of her life, the one that would haunt her forever.

_Quoth the raven, "Nevermore"…_

"What did we find out?" Xavier asked gently, more directing the question to Jean.

"He's built something destructive and has used it against us already," Jean replied with some hesitation, not willing to divulge information that Danielle should tell Xavier. "He also has the information to destroy the mutant community and start the war that Magneto wanted."

"What do you mean?" Xavier's eyes narrowed.

"There's a serum that Ellis uses against mutants, to get them to do as he wants," Jean explained. "He received it from Major William Stryker, who has escaped under the radar. We cannot find him or anything concerning him. The only information we have about Stryker is his obsession with mutants and the Weapons X and XI projects he oversaw in 1981. We don't know what they are yet or if they are mutants or not."

Xavier remembered Stryker's son with dismay, with grief even, and sighed. He waved his hand at Jean to stop, looking to Danielle to tell the rest of the tale.

Danielle had calmed down little, but braved herself for the rest of the story. "He shot him, Professor."

"And he chose to die," Xavier reminded her, always about that family curse that was never-ending.

"He had no choice almost," Danielle explained, wiping her nose with her bloody flannel sleeve. "We've been following Ellis for three years now, when you sent me down to work with Jay. I played the cover well, intergraded myself into the crowds and found out what was conspiring with Phineas Teller and Senator Ellis. I've told you what had happened when there was a breakthrough, when we connected the dots and found out that Ellis was working with Teller and Chameleon. What it was, we didn't find out until today."

"This is much more serious than we realized, Professor," Jean continued, rubbing Danielle's shoulder in an amicable manner. "Ellis had been working many others into an anti mutant frenzy, the like that hasn't been seen in over a decade. With this in mind, he worked with Phineas Teller to locate Chameleon and use his powers to plant a bomb. With a touch of a button, he can decimate an area of ten miles in circumference. With the sound of his voice, the crowds will follow."

Xavier sat in his wheelchair, stunned into silence.

"The bomb is planted underneath this school," Danielle revealed. "I don't know where. I don't know where!"

"Ellis and his men only left us a riddle," Jean added as she took a slightly bloody piece of paper out of her pocket, handing it to Xavier. It had probably been in Danielle or Jayden's hands before Xavier's, fingerprints surrounding it in its telltale red.

_I am so simple that I only point, yet I guide men all over the world to the stars, Polaris being my head. Throughout history even, there have been thousands of horses jumping over towers and landing on clergy and small men, forcing their removal from their petty powers. A game, if you must know, it is a game of wits._

"A game of wits indeed," Xavier mused, panicking in his mind about his other students, most of them not having a home to go back to. "When does he think he would detonate this bomb of his?"

"The conditions are simple," Danielle said, shaking harder. "Do what he says and he'll keep the peace. If we don't, he'll whip up a mob and the mutants will fight the humans."

"I am not to be intimidated by a man who thinks he owns the world!" Xavier exclaimed in return. "It is a ridiculous notion that we be controlled by a member of Congress that deems himself the hand of God in matters concerning mutants. Mutants are born everyday. He cannot eradicate the gene pool with his genocide."

"But we also cannot afford to be calling it a bluff either, Professor," Jean pointed out. "I haven't been able to detect anything out of the ordinary, but we have students to consider and neighbors some miles from the school that can be hurt by the blast."

Xavier knew that Jean was right, but the riddle as to where the supposed weapon was confused him. The first sentence seemed like the writer was referring to a compass pointing to directional places, with Polaris being in the northerly route. But Xavier knew nothing of where a compass might be. Nor, from the second sentence, did he spot where something akin to a chess set might be located.

"And it's on the grounds?" he asked furiously, being helpless that he could not have made security on the grounds better.

"Yes," Danielle replied. She put a trembling hand on Xavier's desk to steady herself, now sporting an extravagant diamond ring on her left hand that Xavier had not seen before.

Right then and there, he saw the conditions Ellis had. And they were brutal indeed.

"When?" was all Xavier asked her, a doomsday of some sort for the student that had given him everything he ever needed from this mission and nothing else.

"After I turn eighteen," Danielle said, a birthday that was mere days away.

"And what does he expect of you?"

"I could keep the house that I had been living in. It's going to be our home when he's not in his Washington apartment, which will be rare, as I understand it. I have to act his wife in all things politically, be there for the conventions and everything. He has no children, so he would want as many as he can, although a fully human child for him might be impossible."

"And your mother?"

"She's going to be staying in a nursing home from now on, Professor. Senator Ellis does not feel that my mother would be safe in what he calls 'inexperienced hands'. That, or he doesn't want the embarrassment of having to deal with her, his new mother-in-law, when he comes back from Washington."

Xavier noticed many things, especially Danielle's great sacrifice. That had brokered practically no arguments or other plans, even from Jean, a friend of hers from the start of her schooling and the one who guided her the most. She was taking Ellis' schemes seriously, just as she did when she and Jayden had been investigating him, using her impulses to counter anything that might harm another. In that, Xavier felt she was being foolish on. There were other ways other than marriage that could have prevented a bomb from exploding at his school. There were other plans he could have enforced to get Ellis to show his hand better, to negotiate a better deal with him.

Alas, right now, there was none that Xavier can think of. However, what Danielle might also stop will be a saving grace for the time being. With her in the senator's household, he could have a glimpse into his life, what his doings are and even solve the mystery as to where this bomb was.

The bluff was not going to be called. Xavier had no choice but to believe the inevitable.

Softly, as not to awake the demons now growing inside of her, Xavier took Danielle's hand. While Jean relaxed her from the back end, Xavier pushed his thoughts into hers as freely as she would allow him to, trying to have her relive the day in which she saw her brother die.

"Show me," he commanded Danielle. "Show me what had happened today."

Danielle only looked at Xavier blankly, willing herself not to open her mind and to use her own powers. "No, Professor, let me take you back there and show you."

~00~

It was long after midnight. Xavier should have retired to bed by then, but something bothered him greatly. After a draining experience taken back into dark memories, learning that one of his older students was murdered and finally died in his hands of his own powers, he could not sleep. His restless eyes glanced lightly out the window, watching stars twinkle and blink. The moon shone brightly, the best out of all the nightly lights, but the shadows that it left in Xavier's mind danced and whirled in consternation.

His student, one of his X-Men, was being sent to a slaughterhouse as a sacrifice, a token of good will that Xavier will do nothing to disturb Ellis' other plans, whatever they were. Another was dead, shot several times in the head before laughing in front of his captors, choosing to die when the shooter had enough of the joke and shot him over and over again, his sister screaming as the blood raked her, bathing her in a salty spray. The two had been put towards Xavier's plans and paid the ultimate prices, but when it would end, he did not know. He did not know if he should end the X-Men team and tell Storm, Jean and Scott that it was not disbanded because no good was coming from it. He especially did not want it to come down to that, but he saw that his X-Men were dying in their own ways around him.

"Oh, old friend, I see that you're reminiscing again."

Xavier turned his wheelchair around from the window, seeing Eric Lehnsherr in the corner of his office, coming out his own dark shadows. The latter smiling, tapping his obnoxious helmet to remind Xavier of his mind's safety, he walked towards Xavier, stopping some inches from Xavier. Lehnsherr was keeping a secret surely, Xavier thought, and played stupid when he thought Xavier was not paying attention to his true intentions.

Lehnsherr had something to do with Senator Ellis. Xavier was sure on that.

"Eric, what do I own the pleasure of your late night visit?" Xavier asked, not willing to play the game this night.

"Oh, something Mystique had found," Lehnsherr replied casually, pulling out folders from what seemed like nowhere and handing them to Xavier. "I think you would find it interesting to know what Senator Ellis had been scheming this whole time under your nose, other than lusting after Chameleon's young daughter, that is. And let me tell you how much of a spell she somehow put on him, with those mutant powers."

"Is this what it's all about, Eric?" Xavier asked, exasperated at the sarcasm. "You're here to tease us in defeat?"

"No, old friend," Lehnsherr said, putting a hand on Xavier's shoulder. "I'm here to help you. Of course, there is no price to this. Just keep in tabs with me about our favorite senator and we'll work for a common cause."

"Which would be what, Eric? Your brotherhood of mutants and no humans on this planet?"

"No, no, no, Charles. That would be too easy to assume, wouldn't it? No, there are better plans to crush Senator Ellis. All we need to do is take our time and plan accordingly."

Before Xavier would give a tarter reply, Lehnsherr had disappeared.

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**Yeah, yeah, two chapters in a night. I'm happy about it. :) Anyway, I'm sorry about the wait. This is the last of the intro chapters. Present day (or where I say is considered present day in the story, I should say) will be coming up. I'll try to be as true to the characters in the movie as much as possible, so be kind. Thank you!**


	4. The Stage is Set

**Yeah, I now that I've hadn't updated in a while. I just went back to work a few weeks ago and schoolwork piled up. This is beginning, so I'm hoping that the action will come soon. Thank you for your patience, everyone! I hope you enjoy the chapter. As always, please review. :)**

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**Five Years Later**

Sunshine slipped through Xavier's office as he waited for his next class, about thirty minutes away, if he wanted it to start. The window had been opened slightly, letting in the spring tease, beckoning with an invisible arm that everyone leave the indoors and come to embrace her. Xavier was not immune to this, debating whether or not to let his students free early or to let them enjoy the outdoors during class, as a lesson of some sorts. However, there was something more than the spring weather he was thinking about, something that had been vexing him since about 1984.

Danielle Ellis, nee Mitchell, had communicated with him the night before when her husband had left her for the night. Although Xavier had been in contact with her since her marriage to Senator Leon Ellis five years previously, she sent him a message telepathically that there was something urgent that she needed to tell him, something her husband might be doing and the possibilities it might lead to. She added that some of it pertained to what Eric Lehnsherr (also known as Magneto) had been allude to this entire time, something that he might be right about. After the incident on Ellis Island, security had been beefed up against any mutant attack, even if Magneto was in his plastic prison, and Senator Ellis was most likely leading the way to another mutant prosecution.

_Was this another lead to what he and Phineas Teller had been conspiring with some years before? What if they had Chameleon again and were planning another mutant and human war? Was Eric right after all?_

Xavier shook his head. He was thinking like Magneto again. Magneto was always sure that a war between humans and mutants will take place and the superior of them be on top and win the war. While Xavier always had hope that humans and mutants would exist in harmony someday, he always had to shake his head at the madness that he was witnessing, especially after Jean Grey had talked to the Senate about the mutants and what she had to debate with about the Mutant Registration Act. And what Danielle and Jayden had been trying to uncover for some years now would have unwound his hope and turned it inside out, like it had so many years ago, before his school was established.

Again, Xavier shook his head. There was only one way to find out what was happening and that was to talk to Danielle. He needed company to get to the farmhouse some twenty minutes away from the mansion, but his usual company was elsewhere. Scott was already out with Jean on their day off as promised, although Jean was hesitant on relaxing and had to be coaxed out of the school. Ororo (also known as Storm) was covering some of the classes today because of the agreement. That left Logan, who was leaving Alkali Lake within the week, as was promised if he stayed on and helped defeat Magneto and rescue Rogue at Ellis Island, to avoid the humans at the summit dying.

Logan was almost a mystery to Xavier and to most others, although a bit cocky and an outsider obviously. He was willing to help them stand up against Magneto, even if he was intent on leaving the mansion, but also wanted the answers to his past. Xavier had seen too much of it, of so much promise and some heartbreak, but it was also too much for Logan to take it on all at once. And it was possible that being rescued with Rogue in Canada was a good thing, for he was also healing from the past, whatever it was to him.

Xavier had little time to find the feral mutant if he wanted to make his class on time or to leave at the most appropriate time. He wheeled himself out of his office and started down the hallways towards the common room, where most of his students spent their off time socializing and gossiping. Not finding Logan there (as he was wont to do when Rogue asked him to come out of his hiding places), he used his powers to scan the mansion and surrounding grounds quickly. He hit upon the Canadian outside in the gardens, smoking his usual cigar.

Sighing (and a little frustrated that Logan was smoking on the grounds again, even if it was outside), Xavier made his way outside, using the ramp to get to the gardens. As he neared Logan, he saw him put his cigar out and sniff the air, turning in his direction. He then acknowledged Xavier's presence with a slight nod and a head tilt, wondering what Xavier could possibly need of him. As Logan was concerned, he was ready to go to Alkali Lake, but wanted the week to rest…before stealing Scott's motorcycle for the trip. That much Xavier knew.

"Professor," Logan greeted cordially, hiding his now unlit cigar in his jacket pocket.

"Logan, I need to ask a favor of you," Xavier began just as warmly, smiling at the mutant. "It's a small one."

"Wheel you around someplace?"

Xavier had to smile at the bluntness of the answer. "Yes. It would seem that my usual drivers are not here or are otherwise occupied. And this is important."

"What would be the nature of your visit outside this place?"

"Oh, someone you should meet," Xavier replied casually, hopefully not sounding too callus. The situation would reveal itself to Logan eventually, if he wanted to be involved once more. "She has some information about a…situation, if you must. It's been some years in finding this information and she might have a key to the solution."

"She?" Now, Logan was interested, his ears perked up. "A former student of yours, Professor?"

"In a way, yes, she was. She was at this school when she was five years old. She left when she was eighteen, to pursue something that would keep people here safe."

Xavier thought to keep the interest about Danielle to a minimum before they reached her home and received the secrets she uncovered, but Logan was now curious and he wasn't going to leave without answers, answered he needed before making a decision. "Is this something Magneto has been doing on the side, without Rogue? I thought we were done with that creep."

Xavier ignored the last sentence, but decided immediately to let Logan pick his brains about the long-ago problem. "No, it's something to do with another mutant threat, Logan. Many years ago, a mutant named Chameleon befriended a fellow man in the Army when they were in Vietnam. He saved this man's life many times, keeping his mutation a secret, but there were whispers in his regiment about him being one himself, as well as his wife and son. When he allowed his friend to know about this secret, the two turned to different paths, but it is suspected that they have been working together towards a common goal, or different ones for themselves. Chameleon has been known to be a mercenary for hire many times."

"Chameleon? He can blend into his environments, I take it?"

"Yes, he could. And before he attacked his victims, he always let himself be seen by his red eyes, something not shown when in human form."

"And he worked with this…friend of his towards something?"

"A mutant war, something that Magneto has been talking about for some time, as you know, Logan. The two had been believed to be working together with a bar owner named Phineas Teller towards this one aim. Teller was the middle man and allowed his place of business to be used when the two met, which was rare indeed because of the suspicion."

"And the name of this friend of Chameleon's?"

"Senator Leon Ellis, a friend of Senator Kelly's before he sadly passed away here. Ellis himself has been building a reputation for being against mutants, but married our contact a few years ago, one Danielle Mitchell. He would marry her to keep the peace or destroy this place and build up the war he desperately craved. She chose to marry him instead of seeing this school turn into a pile of rubble, but she has been giving us any information about the formation of his plans."

Logan could not believe it. After all of the chaos he experienced in getting to New York from Canada, helping out with saving the humans and mutants from Magneto and then bringing Rogue back to life…it was inconceivable that yet another threat had been looming this entire time. And he had no idea about it, no one that told him about the many threats that the mutant and human communities had faced these days. He had been too alone, too caught up in his own drama, that he could not see it in front of him.

Then again, people automatically left him alone to begin with. He could have cared less about anyone, especially the last fifteen plus years he had been roaming without any memories, without any sense of direction and what he should do with himself. He had been King of the Cage for some time, took a few beatings that didn't bother him and drank to remember, traveling when he could. Now, rescued by the X-Men and finding a place that he was accepted and that he had to call some sort of home, he had some sense of belonging and actually started to care.

Xavier sensed this as well and did not have to beg Logan to go. He appeared to be slightly enthused about a trip out and what was going on, another challenge for him perhaps. There was time yet to explain to him about Danielle, what she and Jayden had discovered and what Eric had given him some years ago. He would certainly help in piecing together some of the puzzle before leaving. Xavier did not hold him as responsible as the others in assisting him with these missions, but when Logan started relaxing around the mansion, Xavier thought it wise to allow him some more time to ease into his own situation.

Besides, Xavier was sure that the two would like each other. Danielle was a likeable person, very quiet and reserved, but with intelligence that Xavier had never seen in anyone before. She also had a penchant for mysterious men, so Logan might pick her fancy and she'd find some attraction to him. She was faithful to Ellis (that much Xavier knew), but the life she led before her marriage was not perfect, nor was it morale and quite to Xavier's taste.

The silence in which the two thought was awkward. Xavier broke it quickly, thinking about cancelling his class and assigning some reading for the night. "Twenty minutes, Logan?"

"Sure. I'll go. The Rolls Royce?"

Xavier had to laugh. "No, no. We'll take one of the other cars."

"I take it you don't trust me with it just yet?"

"No," Xavier replied, readying himself to leave. "No, Logan. I just don't like driving in style."


	5. More Rumors Perhaps

**Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a good time. I do apologize about the boring chapter ahead. Need to get some things out before the action, which should start soon enough. I hope this hasn't been too much. However, I do want to thank people for their continuous support, even if there are no reviews. The traffic is always good to see, bored as I am sometimes. LOL :) Anyway, enjoy!**

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There was little time to talk on the drive there. While Logan was more intent on keeping his eyes on the road (and trying hard not to smoke his remaining cigar in the car, tempted as he was), Xavier thought back to that night, when Danielle had come with Jean and Magneto had taunted him with the truth. While Magneto and Mystique had dug up information that they had been trying to get for some time now (as well as confusing him when handed copies of files), Xavier had to wonder what their agenda had been too. As he gave Logan simple directions up the Connecticut/New York border, he also had to think of what Danielle could have possibly unearthed. She had been following her husband and handing Xavier anything she could that was not public knowledge, but this had to be so imperative that he had to have Logan drive him out of the mansion.

As they pulled into the dirt driveway some miles away from the mansion, Logan had to smile. He smelled the air to get a feel of the new place, noticing a simple country life, and turned the vehicle into a spot next to a Honda CRV. As the two got out (Logan helping Xavier into his wheelchair, the latter not using his powers in public), they started to maneuver a yard full of toys, the odd tools or even apples from the crabapple tree above them. Logan even raised an eyebrow over the wheelchair accessible ramp at the porch, most likely put there when Xavier started to communicate with his contact and she knew that he was coming.

Awkwardly, Logan wheeled Xavier through the walkway to the porch, peeking in through lace curtains that led to the kitchen inside. Knocking slightly, he waited patiently with Xavier until a large, round shadow was seen against the counters and cabinets to the right. Logan even had to wince, feeling the heavy (and ringing) vibration of music being played as footsteps were heard lightly.

A very pregnant woman came into view from the other side of the door. Stopping the music from a device on the counter, she smiled broadly, seeing Xavier and Logan at the door. She opened it quickly, glancing to the left, as if sensing that something was afoot, but seeing nothing more than what she thought was there. It seemed like pure reaction to Logan.

"Danielle," Xavier started as the two were let in, "may I introduce Logan? Logan, this is Danielle Ellis."

Logan was not prepared for what Xavier had to say about the situation earlier, much less that the information was coming from a pregnant woman. And a pretty one, at that, he had to admit, one that radiated goodness and a sense of mischief underneath. Logan noticed that Danielle was slightly shorter than he was, with long, dark hair streaked with red and some white (surely it being auburn at some point) and hazel eyes. Her figure seemed naturally slim without the baby, but Logan was speculating. She also looked tired. From the toys scattered outside, Logan assumed that she had another child, but one that was slightly older and more active.

Danielle smiled, dimples on her face (another feature that Logan noticed). "It's nice to meet you, Logan," she said with some hesitation, shaking slightly like she knew something was wrong, but she immediately turned to Xavier. "Professor, I'm sorry to have to rush this, but my husband will be here in a few hours. I want to pass on this information as quickly as possible."

"I understand," Xavier replied, knowing the deep meaning behind her words and they did not always include her husband, Leon Ellis.

"Where's your other child?" Logan asked curiously, bluntly even, as he too entered.

"Michael is upstairs, home from school," Danielle explained, motioning that Xavier and Logan go to the living room. "Give me a moment. I'll explain everything when I get the briefcase from our bedroom."

As Danielle turned to leave, grabbing a pair of latex gloves from under the kitchen sink and putting them on, Logan saw something glittering around her neck. It wasn't much of a glance, but all he saw was a sun and moon pendant and somebody's dog tags. Whose they were, he could not figure out. It made him grab his own as he walked to the living room with Xavier moving next to him, a bewildered look to his face as he tried to recall his own past, but failing when he drew a blank. All he could see in his mind was that tank…

"It started out about a week ago," Danielle called out as she walked as fast as she could to the living room, where Logan and Xavier were now seated. "Leon doesn't come home often and has his own apartment in Washington. I figured that was our agreement and that was the way our marriage was going to be. He'd come home when he wanted to, try to procreate and leave. The cycle would then start again…until this happened to come into the house."

With her hands covered in latex gloves, Danielle produced a slim briefcase, locked. Taking a bobby pin out of her hair, she expertly picked the lock and laid it on the coffee table. Taking out some paperwork, she passed it to Xavier, who nodded his head with little surprise to his face, but one that was doubtful of the contents. Logan, on the other hand, was clueless.

"You know that Senator Kelly and my husband started the Mutant Registration Act again, about a few weeks ago," Danielle added nervously to Xavier, ignoring Logan. "When Senator Kelly disappeared, Leon picked up the pieces. Initially, I thought that he only wanted each of us registered and that was that. I didn't think that Magneto's fantasies from the past would come to bear upon the mutant community. I guess I was wrong."

"How would we know this is true?" Xavier asked passing the paperwork to Logan to see. When Danielle turned a questioning look to the former, Xavier only smiled.

_How do I know I can trust him?_ Danielle did not dare to betray her bubbling anger in the open, only wishing that perhaps Xavier could have hinted at some new person invading her space instead of his usual company. _Is he one of us?_

_Extraordinary abilities and trust problems, if you must believe and know, Danielle. Logan has a healing ability that makes it difficult to determine his age. With his adamantium skeleton, he is also virtually indestructible._

_He's a cross between man and an animal? And he has no sense of his past?_

As Logan struggled to understand what was given to him, Xavier had to grin at the comparison, crude as it was, but Danielle's abilities sometimes could not be controlled concerning memories. _Of course, if you have to put it that way, Danielle. I sensed something was wrong about him from the time Ororo and Scott brought him back, just as you had. He might be a key to unlocking some of the mystery though._

_In what way? The adamantium does sound like something Stryker would have used, if we believe whatever Magneto gave to you some time back._

_Patience, Danielle, have some patience. With some of the pieces being put together, I'm sure there will be a complete picture._

"How do we know this is true?" Logan finally asked, handing Danielle back pages of stocks, diagrams of buildings and even logistics on politics.

"Leon has been looking into a company called Trask some time back," Danielle started, looking to Xavier to confirm this fact as well. "We don't know what they do, but it's clear that they create prisons that hold mutants. This has been ongoing for over forty years now. I don't know how long Leon has been dealing with them, but this shows that he's also following them, in the stock markets at least."

"And the pictures in the pile?"

"Camps," Danielle confirmed. "They're camps, with mechanics on how to control mutant powers, making sure it's not in use. On the last pages, Leon outlines his plans on the Mutant Registration Act and how it would advance him, even with me and Michael in the way. He also has his political successors in case of assassination, his family really, but not his younger sister. In addition, he has a treaty drawn up with Canada and Mexico to be signed, for them to start considering how to deal with the mutant problem and to detain any and all mutants that run to the borders."

Logan felt his skin crawl. He didn't know if it was from fear or anger, but at the mention of his home being used to cage people like him, emotions ran high. His mind even ran with the possibilities.

"Advancement, I could care less about," Xavier said, waving his hand dismissively about the camps. "How do we know this isn't a bluff?"

"Was the bomb a bluff?" Danielle asked him.

"Wait," Logan interjected. "What bomb?"

Xavier and Danielle both looked at Logan in surprise. When Danielle seemed to motion through facial expressions on what to tell Logan, Xavier gave her permission to tell anything she could. Logan even saw the confusion on her face, the want to hesitate about anything that did not concern him. What Danielle probably did not realize was, at this point, it did now. While the US was not Logan's home, per say, the agreement, if true, could have consequences not just for the mutants here, but for him as well when he's in Canada.

"A few years ago, when investigating the mob frenzies my husband was working up, we had discovered that a bomb was planted on the school grounds," Danielle revealed slowly. "As far as we could discern, it has not countdown, but can be controlled by other means. It was brought in without detection and cannot be found. How we found out it was true was when, last year, Leon sent the Professor some pictures of the property, with no pictures of the same place being taken twice, and showed a picture of the bomb planted underground. We cannot take that sort of threat lightly."

"Who could have gotten something that destructive passed?" Logan inquired, eying Xavier with some suspicion.

"Chameleon, most likely," Xavier answered.

"Who also was working with William Stryker too, Professor," Danielle said, pulling up more paperwork and handing it to Xavier to read. "After Vietnam, Leon contacted Major Stryker, especially after his creation of Team X in the seventies, and something happened, but I don't know what yet. I don't even know when and if Chameleon is involved either. I haven't been able to connect any dots yet. As far as I know, though, Stryker is also working for the Registration Act and that treaty. Something tells me that he also has a plan, for when this one does not work."

"As always," Xavier replied, handing the paperwork back to Danielle and motioning to Logan that they should leave. Doubt ran in his face, but what Danielle was saying made sense to him. "When there is always hope for humanity, there is always one who crushes that feeling."

"I agree, Professor, but there should always be hope." Danielle smiled at Xavier, assisting him getting to the door. Logan lagged behind, as if to watch the dynamics of this new person that Xavier trusted, but found her too interesting to let go just yet.

Maybe she was intelligent, too much for her own good, but there was something about Danielle Ellis that almost attracted Logan to her. Maybe it was Jean's constant rejections or even Scott telling him to stay away from Jean. Perhaps it was even somebody that would seem to help him rebound from that rebuff he always hated. In either case, she was a stable, loving mother…who was also married and inaccessible to him. And she might not even share the same, curious feelings he had too.

And this made the pull all the more fun. And maybe it was to her as well.

Danielle escorted to the two to the porch when Logan had caught up, but at the same time, had also turned her music back on, blaring it from the kitchen again. Logan silently took position to wheel Xavier to the car when the threesome was outside, but also winced at the vibration as Xavier said his farewells. When Danielle promised to come back when there was trouble, Logan had to smile, refraining himself from saying anything stupid, like he did with Jean on occasion. However, he had to shake his own head at her taste of music.

_She says her love for me  
Could never die__  
__But that'd change if she ever  
Found out about you and I__  
__  
__Oh, but her love is cold__  
__It wouldn't hurt her  
If she didn't know 'cause…_

_When it gets too much__,__  
__I need to feel your touch__  
I gonna run to you…_

Xavier was chuckling, but Logan did not know why. When he turned to see Danielle, though, he saw that she was grinning too, like the two had a private joke. What Logan did not know was what Danielle was now up to.

_Don't tease Logan, Danielle. You'll have the chance to later._ Xavier chided his former student as he continued to chuckle.

_I wouldn't dream of it, Professor. The song came on randomly._

_Regardless, Danielle, I wouldn't put stock in that paperwork or in your own innocence in anything. Put it away for another time, but don't discount anything. Keep an eye out on Ellis._

Danielle shook her own head, hearing her son call her from across the house. As the car pulled away with the two in there, she could not help but think that there was perhaps something more about this visit than Xavier had anticipated. Certainly, she had the paperwork to part with him, but Logan was another twist that she did not expect. It was almost as if Xavier was trying to get her to keep on her toes, to always expect the unexpected.

Now, it was time to sit back and watch the action.


	6. Illusions Fall

Senator Leon Ellis, tired from his long trip from New York City and back to his wife's home, settled quickly into the country life as soon as he came back later that night. After checking his belongings in the bedroom, he saw dinner on the table in time, sat down to eat with Danielle and their son with a prayer at the beginning and ending of the meal and cuddled into his position on the couch, reading his newspaper. Danielle would ask him what he needed, but he declined anything, saying that all he needed was right there in the living room and that he was content. In this way, he could think without letting his wife know what was on his mind.

Of course, something was amiss. It seemed like a normal day for the family at home, but Ellis knew better. Ever since he started coming back to his wife's home in the warm April days, he noticed things out of the ordinary and it wasn't just Danielle's multiple and utterly embarrassing mutations either. It was their son and their daily routine. Granted, Michael was sick this past week with a cold and had been showing off his own mutation, it seemed to Ellis. Every time he turned around, the child was echoing his voice around the house from his room. He also talked about tunnels and lights in his sleep, which was strange coming out of a child of four, and it appeared to Ellis that the child had also inherited the family mutation.

Ellis was a suspicious man as well. He figured that his wife was still talking with Xavier through her mind-reading mutation, especially recently. As soon as he brought home the briefcase even, Danielle had eyed it with a raised eyebrow, then asking him what he was doing home before quickly making him dinner. She, as well as he, was distrustful of the motives of the other, but it did not mean that Ellis didn't love her any less than he had when she was younger, prettier too. And Danielle's digging into what he had been doing with Trask Industries all these years bothered Ellis, especially when the teenager of fifteen had started working with the same man he had wanted to eliminate for some time now.

Besides, Ellis had a feeling that Danielle had played with the lock with a pin or something smaller or similar. When he checked it before dinner, he saw that some of the complex locking mechanisms did not work as well as they did when he purchased the attaché case. Granted, Danielle had done a great job in making sure no trace of her existed among his things, even going as far as eliminating her fingerprints. Ellis, with his time in Vietnam and working with Major Stryker on the outside, knew better.

The question was simple, Ellis thought as he read through the newspaper, inanely reading the articles with little interest. Was it easier to let Danielle see that he was annoyed about her meddling again? Or should he continue to step on eggshells and walk onward through his plans, as if nothing had happened?

Either way, Ellis knew that Danielle would run to Xavier for safety. Except, of course, there was no safety there, once he unlocked the device.

A few minutes later, after Michael was dressed in his pajamas and ushered upstairs to bed, Ellis heard Danielle's soft footsteps echo to and from the stairwell and the downstairs areas. She soon was walking in his general direction, gingerly figuring out a way to interrupt him as he was reading the news, most likely. She usually talked about silly things after Michael was sent to bed anyway.

The footstep stopped in front of Ellis with great vacillation. Before Danielle could say anything, though, Ellis lowered his newspaper, glaring at the woman he loved and hated at the same time, and gave what was considered a discouraging glaze. Startled, Danielle was silent, but gathered enough courage to smile at her husband.

"Was the trip to the city good?" she asked, hoping to receive some information, Ellis figured. "I heard that traffic was bad going in."

"The markets were fine," Ellis replied, hoping that nothing more was detectable in his vexed tone. "Things have never been better now."

"But the trip itself was ok, even with the traffic? Would you need me to call Peter or Mary in the morning? I figured he might like to drive you again and catch up with things."

Ellis' annoyance soon turned to rage, but he kept his cool. No, he was not going to be calling his cousin, Peter Ellis, and his wife Mary, anytime soon. It was bad enough that the former was following in his footsteps politically, his wife wanting more than her fair share of being the politician's wife. Hell, while Peter was often jealous of Ellis in every way, including bagging a woman that was fertile and outwardly docile, Ellis found out that he would be the only person who could succeed him if and when he died. Peter Ellis was always taking leftovers of Ellis', but he was victorious in his own way to keep the family in the spotlight. While Ellis himself led the way to mutant prosecution, Peter Ellis followed by being the nag and showing an united front in the family, even if one of their own (excluding Danielle, Michael and the unborn baby, most likely) was a mutant too.

Danielle saw the frown on Ellis' face and did not press the matter, allowing her husband to answer for himself. "No, I don't think Mary would want Peter to leave without her. I'm going to be in the city for a few days anyway, a week at the most. I was planning a week."

"I understand, Leon. Would you like me to do anything for you though?"

It was there that Ellis saw his chance, perhaps to warn about the only way to get rid of his wife, his best shame politically. He put his newspaper down, slowly changing his features to one of tenderness and want instead of what it probably had been. He then motioned that Danielle come to him, gently picking her up and seating her in his lap, even if she was heavier than the last time they met. He felt that she was frightened, her senses probably telling her that there was more danger sitting in his lap then standing in front of him like the good wife she had been. That she might be correct about, but Ellis did not feel his wife inside of his head, probing for motive.

Maybe Danielle was right after all, even if she didn't use her mutation to scan what was around her. And this was what was making her too dangerous.

Ellis held Danielle close to him, showing affection he had not bothered with for some time now. Even when in bed with his wife, Ellis showed nothing to her and said nothing, treating her like it was his duty to breed with her. Now, he kissed her on the lips, hugging her closely as her head rested where his heart was. He leaned back in his seat, accommodating room for Danielle and the baby inside of her.

"How much longer?" Ellis asked as he put a gentle hand on his wife's belly.

"Three weeks," Danielle replied with some unease.

"Three weeks, you said?"

"Yes, Leon. Less than a month before the baby is born. Why?"

Ellis leaned in closer to Danielle, pulling her head from his chest. Kissing her again, he said normally, as if talking about the weather, "Do not meddle in things that you have no business in, Danielle. Three weeks is a long time. If you want our baby to survive that long, keep out. I won't have you spoiling my plans again, even if you did not succeed the last time."

Danielle froze. She said nothing, protectively putting her own hand on their child.

"Soon enough, Danielle, things will change," Ellis continued, as if nothing had happened between them. "There is only so much that this family can do for you to keep you and the children safe."

When there was silence, Ellis continued his gentle ministrations to his wife. Danielle continued to say nothing, but a plan was already formulating a plan to escape. And Ellis knew that she was falling right into his trap, whether or not she stays or goes.

~00~

It was almost dawn. Danielle had spent the night in her bed with Ellis (who was soundly sleeping without noticing her discomfort), but had not managed to sleep all night, too tense to relax in slumber. Indeed, she was swimming in her own mind, mixing the pictures of destruction and madness with the mobs her husband liked to rally up. She should have been happy about her family and the new addition. She should have been content that her husband was home and paying some attention to her, even if it was rare that he ever did, especially when they were engaged to be married or acting the part of a couple in the public's eye.

However, illusions are always deceiving. She could not even stay in them to feel that false sense of security anymore. It was time to take some action.

Danielle quickly looked at her husband. He was still sleeping, to wake up within the hour and leave for New York City again, most likely to consult with those higher up in Trask. Granted, he was supposed to be staying there for about a week at the most, but Danielle was concerned that his own schemes were forming again and that he and Trask were now on the pathway to mutant decimation.

There seemed to be on option, but it would be a sinking ship for everyone involved. Even in the five years that the dancer balanced on the tightrope, danger still lurked in the corners and below, threatening to swallow them up. There should be time enough to find the threat, but Danielle could not be so sure. Even with the Professor's new addition, Logan, there was some hope that maybe the dangers would not be as tremulous as she thought it would be. Danielle had some hope in the mutant with the astounding abilities.

_Logan._ Who was he? The biological son of his parents' groundskeeper, she knew upon meeting, originally named James Howlett. He was born in Alberta, Canada during the eighteen hundreds, but Danielle could not be sure what year it was because his mind was too muddled. A sickly child who ran off when his mutation formed, killing the groundskeeper when he caused a ruckus in the house, Logan stayed with his brother, Victor Creed, and set off on a path that constantly tested him, making him ask the question that constantly plagued him.

_Was he a man…or an animal?_

Surely, his quest for his own past would not end. The blank pages would remain, maybe coming back when the time came, at the least expected moment. However, Danielle knew better. The adamantium bullets had done their damage. It would be time before Logan would recover anything from his past.

_Just as I should with mine._ There was one more thing Danielle needed to do before leaving. It might take some energy and some apologies, but it was time.

Using all of her strength, Danielle closed her eyes and called out to Xavier, trying to link her mind with his. Through the haze of his complex mind, she felt that he was still sleeping, but was readying himself for another day. She prodded some more before reaching him, feeling some annoyance that he was woken up earlier than expected. However, when he felt that it was Danielle, he was alarmed.

_What's wrong, Danielle?_

_Professor, I'm sorry, but I need to leave. Leon knows what we're up to and feels threatened, most likely from you and the X-Men. He didn't say it directly, but I have a feeling that he knows who's involved. I don't want to endanger anyone, least of all my family. I'm coming back to the mansion._

Xavier was silent. Danielle thought the connection was lost, but she still sensed it in her mind.

_Professor?_

_No, I'm still here, Danielle. Are you sure?_

_Yes. I'm not taking the lifeboat away from the sinking ship anymore. It's time that this ends. It might be today or tomorrow that it does, but it'll be a step in the right direction. I can't keep up with this marriage anymore._

_And your children?_

_We'll worry about that when the time comes. Michael is coming with me though._

Xavier was again silent, but he knew better not to argue with Danielle, the strong and resolute one out of all of his students. She was right. Defeating Magneto was a step towards trying to unite humans and mutants, but in many ways, it had divided them further. To stop Senator Ellis from his speeches against the mutants and trying to uncover his relationship with Trask was essential as well, to keep from the unknown peril from coming to their doors.

_The door is unlocked, as always. And Danielle?_

_Yes, Professor?_

_Be careful._

As the sun rose and filled the bedroom with brilliant red, yellow and orange light, Xavier broke the connection with Danielle. As she turned to her husband, her own plan formed and blossomed into action. It required no help, some packing and a lot of cooperation from Michael, but settling back into her second home was probably the best course of action at this point. It would give her more chances to research and get to the bottom of the barrel.

At least, she hoped so.


	7. Paranoid

It had taken little time to figure out what to do next, but the pressure was still felt to be as normal as possible. A typical morning had followed after Danielle's dawn decision, but she almost died from the nervousness she felt as she was pouring coffee into cups and making breakfast for her husband. Even making sure that Michael was well enough to travel had her hands shaking as she got him up from bed, her whisper in his mind to prepare to leave making it harder on concentrate on the task at hand.

_What if the countdown starts when he finds out that I'm gone? It would be a week at the most that he's not here, but Leon could easily start anything anywhere if he has easy access to it. And when he does, there is no telling when it will explode. Surely, there are the doubters, but that evidence sent to the Professor…why would Leon take those pictures and send them over to begin with? Why would everyone doubt the existence of something so destructive?_

"Goodbye, Danielle," Ellis called out as he left for his car, bringing the engine to life and casually waving at his family in the house.

"Goodbye, Leon," Danielle responded, giving her husband a quick blow kiss from the porch as she waved. "Call me when you get there."

Ellis ignored the last request, but instead drove off without another word. Danielle watched the car drive out of the dirt driveway and then up the hill. She then turned immediately back into the house when Ellis was out of sight. Walking as fast as she could up the stairs, she packed all of Michael's essentials as he ate breakfast downstairs and tossed the bag in the hallway on the top of the stairs. Then, she packed her own things and some necessary baby things and added those to the pile. She was sure that furniture would come later, even if it would be less than a month before her second child was born, so did not worry.

Just as Danielle went downstairs hustled Michael out of the dining room into the shower and shoved his daytime clothing behind him, listening at the door just in case something happened, she contacted the person she hadn't talked to since 1997. She wasn't sure how busy Jean Grey was at this point, but it was worth a shot trying to get a hold on her…and hoping that she was not busily attending one of the students or was with Scott Summers, the most confident of all of the X-Men and the largest doubter of all of Ellis' schemes. She hoped she interrupted her with the former most of all.

_Jean? You there?_

From her end, Danielle heard something drop, making a noise like a shot. It seemed like she scared Jean, who was in the middle of something important in the medical unit. Luckily, she wasn't with Scott, or else she'd sense him in the room with Jean.

_Danielle! What happened?_

_It's a long story. The Professor should have something for you later, if he hasn't said something already. But to make a long story short, I'm coming back to the mansion. It's getting too hot here._

_My God! And your children?_

_Obviously, baby number two is with me. And of course Michael is coming. Why wouldn't he?_

_Wouldn't Ellis want custody?_

_No. Michael is one of his biggest embarrassments. I'd rather that he be with me than with his father, who is so busily making himself scarce in New York City. Besides, I don't think Leon would do harm to Michael, even if that were the case._

_What do you mean?_

_Well, you remember that Leon was making plans with Chameleon and Phineas Teller way back when. We theorized that the bomb was carried underground by Chameleon, or so you told the Professor. What I told the Professor yesterday was that Leon was involving himself with Trask Industries and they're always against mutants._

_You mean, the company that prefers to hold mutants in cages._

_Right. Leon also has plans for camps for mutants, I think, something he brought home with him. There are also plans for his own political advancement and who gets to succeed him and such, but that was normal. The Professor thinks it might be a sham just like the bomb at the beginning, but I doubt it. Leon working with Trask isn't a coincidence._

_The camps have been a fantasy that Magneto was harping about, Danielle. How do you figure it's true?_

_Just a feeling, I guess, other than Trask being in the picture. Something doesn't seem right here. Besides, traveling like I did with my husband opened my eyes to some of the most blatant hatred I could ever imagine. With Leon whipping the crowds up, who would stop them from getting to us, especially if a powerful company was behind him? Leon has been building it up for years, even before we married. What happens when he points his finger and they blindly follow?_

_You're paranoid. Are you sure living with Senator Ellis hasn't corrupted your mind?_

Danielle sighed out loud. _No, Jean. I don't think so._

"Momma, I'm done!" Michael's voice pitched out from the bathroom to the hallway, where Danielle was standing. It seemed like her son was standing right next to her, yelling in her ear.

_I need to go, Jean. I'll talk to you later. I'll be around today._

Jean shut down their connection without a farewell. While it felt empty inside to be without the friend who stood by her for so long, Danielle knew that there was much more to do than just running off and staying at the school again. As she entered to help her son read himself for the trip, all she could think about was not just escaping and stopping whatever her husband was up to, but also meeting up with everyone again, most for the first time in some years. Nobody had thought less of her for marrying Ellis to stop his schemes, but there were always doubts from some that she had turned her coat.

Well, it was time to prove the doubters wrong, especially Scott Summers.

~00~

Michael had a keen sense of what was going on. Even if his mother had not said anything about where they were going, he knew that she had been planning on leaving his father for as far back as he could remember, which was a long time ago for him really. He had seen the two fight about mutation and powers, making him different, which he could not understand. He didn't see anything wrong with being special. The other kids in his pre-school thought that him yelling from one end of the room to another and making it like he was right next to you was pretty cool. His teacher, on the other hand, did not, and often called his mother to complain, saying that he needs to leave and find someplace else to "accept" him.

His mother wouldn't do such a thing, she reassured him, and kept him in the same school until he got sick about a week ago. It was almost the end of the year anyway and he was only going for half days and learning nothing that he didn't at home, so he welcomed the days staying home, relaxing and sleeping. His mother was more than able to home school him and had told his father that over the phone after a few days, adding that Michael was so intelligent that he was bored easily (and that was the truth, no doubt about it). While it was not tolerable to his father, it was left alone.

The days with his mother were always a relief, but it was her tension the last few that caught Michael's attention. When his mother was not checking in on him, he was noticing how she was constantly sneaking around, opening that thin case of his father's and reading the papers or researching something on her computer in the living room. Then, he heard some people coming over the day before, but could not hear their names or what they were talking about. He only knew that his mother came upstairs, checked on him quickly, and went back down with that case. She then came back up when they left and put the case back where it was supposed to be.

Now, she was telling him that they were leaving and heading to a safe place, like running away from home. Michael was not sure where it was, but he was certain that it would be secure. His father would not be there, his mother reassured him, and that was all that mattered. Michael would not admit it to her, but he did not like his father much. He always beat him up, teased him about being different and forced him to do things that he did not want to do.

At least, his mother always made him do things that were good for him. His father made him try to be like him, wearing fancy clothes and not being nice to people. Even in that big building where everyone took a lot of phone calls and told people what his father was about, Michael was not sure why his father was mean to those who did a lot for him.

"They're just small people to him, is all," his mother explained one day.

Michael didn't understand what it meant. The people looked like grown-ups to him, so the people being small did not make sense. Nor did his father yelling at them make any sense either.

Now, he was finally with his mother, alone and without his father. So far, it had been a boring trip, with the usual roads she followed for a while and the things in the trunk rattling as they hit potholes. But it was almost like an adventure, this place he never had been to before. And some of the roads she turned into were unfamiliar too, making him look out the window and wonder what kind of life he's have next. He even wondered if the other people would like him too.

"There will be other kids for you to place with," Danielle reassured her son as she drove on, seeing him through her rearview mirror and sensing his thoughts. "They'll be older than you mostly, but I'm sure they'll be nice and you'll make friends."

Michael quickly saw that his mother was sad too, alternating between her and the window. There was something bothering her, but he couldn't tell what. It wasn't about what she just said surely. It was something else, he justified, and he looked out the window again, seeing nothing but woods and the occasional animal now.

"Where are we?" he just asked, ignoring the nagging feeling inside of him.

"A long way from home," Danielle replied to him, turning into a long driveway slowly, like she was sneaking in. "You'll like it here."

"Is there home there?"

Danielle had to bite her tongue, not wanting to scare her son. She knew that nothing of her home was there, but Xavier's school was a place of refuge for her, a place where she can find the safety she needed, as did her son. But there was always a price to it and this time, she had to search for the price and pay it. It was time.

However, to make it that way, she needed to find out where the threat was. If Ellis was so caring about his son, he would make an effort not to destroy the school, even if Michael was a source of pain to him. Danielle knew that, in his heart, Ellis did care about his family in his own way. The way he held Michael the first time, the gentleness of teaching him sports…the fatherly feelings were there, but so was the ignominy.

"Momma?" Michael turned back to Danielle and sighed. "Is there home there?"

"I'm sure there is," Danielle finally said, seeing the school loom closer as she drove on. "If not, you can always make home wherever you are."


	8. Lobby Greetings

**Have another chapter ready to be posted, but I'm not sure if the last 2 (this included) have been seen on the board. I didn't see it and the email notification for chapter 7 came pretty late, some hours later. I usually get the emails within a minute or 2. I see the updated on my profile and when managing the stories though. Can anyone please tell me if this is being seen on the board, where it's supposed to be? Many thanks!**

* * *

There had been no one to greet her at the door when she knocked and let herself in, but Danielle sensed many people around the school anyway, mostly children and teenagers too busy to care. Most had been in the common room, going to sleeping, talking or studying. Others were in the classroom. Still yet, there were few who hung around in their rooms, doing homework, fooling around or experimenting with their powers.

Either way, Danielle felt out of place almost in such a large place, hearing everything and everyone talking all at once. She struggled to find Xavier through the large waves of others overwhelming before her, but could not concentrate enough to find out where the Professor was. He wasn't in his office or in the classroom, any of them to be exact. Certainly, he was not out in the gardens, enjoying the day like he normally did when not indoors…

_What was that?_ A presence made itself known in Danielle's mind, but the person did not know that she was roaming around mentally and so freely. When she concentrated again, she saw that it was Logan.

And Logan had a keen awareness of what was going on, something unusual about him that made Danielle's powers almost pale in comparison. He sensed that something was happening in the front lobby, the out of place noises grabbing his attention. Putting out his cigar against his palm (which Danielle knew was illegal on the grounds to begin with), he stood up and walked past the many teenagers swirling around the courtyard and gardens. He then headed into the mansion, but where he was going (and whether or not to the lobby) was another question.

Just as Danielle was trying to follow Logan's path, she felt someone's arms wrap around her cordially. "Oh, Danielle, it's good to see you again!"

When Danielle opened herself back up to the lobby (noticing Michael clinging onto her leg and whimpering from the noise), she saw Ororo Munroe before her. Also called Storm, Ororo had the power to manipulate the weather. Warm and kindhearted, Ororo was one the very few outside the original assignment that did not judge her when she left, but remained amicable, quiet even. The two did not talk for some years, but it was good to see a welcoming face.

"You too, Ororo," Danielle replied, hugging back.

"So," Ororo started, the two untangling from the embrace, "what brings you here?"

"The Professor did not tell you anything?" Danielle raised an eyebrow, curious.

"No, he didn't say anything past seeing you and having Logan for the ride. What's going on?"

"Why do you think I'm here?"

Ororo looked at her severely, distorting her features as she whispered. "You can't be serious about that bomb?"

"I don't know if and when, but something is going on. And we all need to solve this problem, whatever it is, before it becomes a bigger one."

"We don't even know if it exists, Danielle. It might be some rumor to scare us. Even those pictures sent to us last year were a little dubious."

"You're listening to Scott again, haven't you?"

"That's because it's the truth." At the stairwell, Scott Summer came walking down, smiling sarcastically as he did. "It's good to see you too, Danielle. It still doesn't answer the question of why you're here, if this bomb scare was not true."

"All in good time, I guess, Scott," Danielle replied tartly, realizing the harshness behind Scott's voice. He was one of the few who distrusted her from the start of her joining the X-Men (as well as not liking her brother), so it was no surprise to still see the doubt in his mind.

"You would need to see the Professor, I assume?" Scott came to stand next to Ororo, a corner of his mouth snickering lightly.

"Again, when it's a good time to," Danielle answered, locking in on the third person coming towards her. And it wasn't any of the children or teenagers either.

"Well, well, well, look who's here," Logan said almost flirtatiously, cutting in in-between Scott and Ororo. "Danielle. I thought we lost you back there."

While Scott rolled his eyes and Ororo moved over to one side to accommodate Logan some room, Danielle flickered her hazel eyes in annoyance, a little disgust even. She saw through the façade of concern and was willing to overlook the flirting too. Her dangerous side even wanted to push out of the motherly one, but she ignored it. It would add more fuel to this inferno.

If Logan wanted some action, she was willing to give it to him…like a punch in the face, if he can feel it. There were some things up her sleeve that even she wanted to show off.

"No, no, not lost," Danielle answered, feeling Michael moved to the back of her leg to hide. "I'm just misplaced. Now, if we all get moving, I can talk with the Professor and get things situated and the panic to a minimum, hoping that none of the students here know about the threat. Sound good to everyone? Or am I just stepping on everyone's toes?"

Logan grinned at the cynicism in her voice, but Scott was not amused. While Ororo said nothing, slightly annoyed at the response (and one that would surely get her riled up if there were no students around), one last voice caught Danielle's attention. And it too came from the stairwell, coming down to greet her.

"No, not stepping on everyone's toes, per say," Jean Grey responded, smiling broadly as she saw Danielle. "Just up front and personal, as always. Do you need help getting settled? I'm sure Scott and Logan will certainly love to help you."

Danielle grinned, especially when Jean quickly revealed the love triangle she's had to experience the last few weeks. _So, Jean, need a little help in separating the boys?_

_I don't know. I love Scott, but Logan…it's almost primal. You understand?_

_I sure do. Many times over._

"I'm positive they would," Danielle said out loud, to dispel the giggly mood she (as well as Jean, most certainly) were now in. It was very awkward, to say the least, to be talking with someone considered a good friend, but not to act childish in front of everyone.

As Logan grunted with disbelief (whether good or not, Danielle could not tell) and Scott sighed with frustration, Jean and Danielle smiled at each other. For a moment, it was like old times, the two playing the others off of each other and nobody knowing the difference. It was equally entertaining to see Scott and Logan picking up the several bags dragged in and walking upstairs with them, Scott leading the way to Danielle's old room, which was assumed to be hers for the time being. Michael, on the other hand, almost forgotten and still whimpering, was not willing to move from his position behind his mother. Ororo saw this and silently asked permission to see him.

"Hey," she said to Michael when Danielle nodded. She then kneeled down. "I'm Ororo. What's your name?"

"Michael."

"Well, Michael, won't you come with me? There's lots of things here that you can see. They're pretty exciting. You want to come with me?"

Michael looked up to Danielle and shook his head. "No."

"Why now?" Ororo was not going to give up, but she was gentle about it. "I've known your mother and she knows me. She trusts me to show you around. You can meet new people too."

Without warning, Danielle felt a calming effect roll from her to her son. She wanted him to start trusting people, even if Ellis had ruined that for him from the start, and to allow him the freedom to roam, without having her around. She put some soothing words in his mind, reminding him of how many people would love to see him and know what he can do with his powers too. She even reminded him of how important he was to her and how the same feelings can be shown from other people, not just her.

The results were magical, but not ideal. Michael let go of Danielle's leg and took Ororo's light brown hand. He consented to being led away and shown around, but constantly, as he walked away, glanced at his mother, light tears rolling down his face. He still radiated fright and timidity, but at least there was a level of trust between him and Ororo that was now beginning to display itself.

"It's a good start, isn't it?" Jean asked uncomfortably, not knowing what else to say as Danielle watched Michael walk away. Her friend's mutant red eyes flashed on and off for a moment too.

"I guess so." Danielle was quiet for a moment, willing to stand there until Jean nudged her with her mind and got her attention.

"Come on, let's go someplace else," she said, motioning to the teenagers in the common room. "I've got someplace quieter and more private."

Danielle knew what she meant. "Wouldn't Scott mind?"

"How would he know?"

"Well, don't you two share the same room?"

"Considering that I sent him and Logan on an assignment, I'm pretty sure that those two are going to bicker anytime now," Jean reassured Danielle. "Besides, we have things to talk about."


	9. You Still Believe in Me?

It had been a quiet walk upstairs to the room indeed. Staying as professional as possible was the key with Jean Grey, especially with so many children and teenagers around. Danielle stayed the same way, surely putting words of scandal into the fire of rumors and hearsay. When Scott or anybody else started voicing his opinions again, who was to stop anyone from thinking the worst out of her? Danielle, as well as Jean, knew how much gossip passed through the walls of Xavier's school, even if it was supposed to be a home and school for many.

Jean directed Danielle to her and Scott's room on the next floor in the west wing, some halls from the classrooms. Closing the door behind her pregnant friend, she smiled. Then, she listened for a moment and scanned their surroundings, to see if anyone was around the general area (save for Danielle's room next door), and then laughed, putting her hand to her mouth to stifle it.

The laughter was contagious, even to Danielle. "Jean, really?" she snorted, laughing harder than Jean.

In return, Jean squealed a voice of pleasure and surprise, uncharacteristically of her. Before the two knew it, they were embracing each other and almost jumping up and down like schoolgirls. The mirth and squealing, however, did not ease down, but gained in volume until the two heard students run upstairs for their classes. It was then that they became silent, each having an idea of what the gossip would be if the students heard them and guessed on the happenings.

"So," Danielle began, "it's been a while."

"Yeah," Jean replied.

"You believe in me still, right?"

"I always did, Danielle. Why do you question me now?"

"Because of your response to me about the camps," Danielle complained as she took a seat on the bed comfortably. "You don't believe it."

"That's because it's a fragment of Magneto's imagination, an irrational fear from when he was a young boy."

"No, it's not. Not this time, Jean." Danielle sighed, a little frustrated that their first conversation in five years was about something troublesome. "You see, Trask tried keeping Magneto in a cell. From what I've come to find out, Magneto was accused of assassinating President Kennedy in 1963, using a bent bullet the Warren Commission had investigated. He denied everything, of course, but Trask Industries was in charge of keeping him in prison when he was found guilty in his secret trial in 1964."

"And?"

"No matter what, he escaped. In this way, perhaps Magneto was right and had a sense of what was happening with Trask and what direction they were heading in. We know that they like building cages for us. However, what if they had something bigger than just making cages?"

"They don't. I refuse to think that Magneto was responsible for helping to bringing to light something that does not exist, Danielle." Jean crossed her arms. "He lived in a different world than we did, found his revenge and listened to whatever maniac told him mutants were about. He's a monster, Danielle, someone who just recently almost turned the people at the Ellis Island summit to mutants and to their deaths. How could you believe in something he does?"

"Then, you would call this a coincidence?"

"It might be something that Senator Ellis was trapping you with, just like he trapped you into marriage with him."

"I can't think like that, Jean. It doesn't make sense."

"Just like the bomb?"

"No, the bomb made some sense. Just when he'll detonate it, we don't know."

The two looked at each other again, scrutinizing the other, to see if their opinions would change. Then, Jean said, "Listen, Danielle, what the Professor told us yesterday was not much. He has his reservations about the paperwork too, but with Trask in the picture, he might not. I do not agree with what he's thinking, but it might be a start to something. Leon Ellis trying to work out an anti-mutant crowd was normal, even when it was started some years ago. Delaying his little war was a little on the strange side, I'd say, but I do think he would carry out that threat. No doubt about it. However, there might be something different going on with Trask Industries. We don't even have an idea on how to receive the information for that, let alone accuse them of a national cleansing."

Danielle thought for a moment as she sat there on the bed, but then her face lit up seconds later. "Leon has a call center where he keeps people to take his calls. It's almost like a secretary's job, but with more people. Some of them take inbound calls about opinions, feedback and such, to get a feel of the mutant question and who will vote for who. Others do outbound, where they call about votes, polls and things like that."

"So?"

"_So_, Jean, there's also a few offices in there with information and I have my own too. Leon's cousin, Peter, and his wife Mary, also work there. Their offices are right in the building, along with Leon's. I have special key access and can get anyone else in."

Jean's eyes suddenly saw the logic and shown it. "You need someone without any paper trail to accompany you."

"That's right. And I know just the person."

"Logan."

"How did you suppose I would bring him?"

"Who else, Danielle? Besides, you met him and would have figured out by now who he was and what he can do."

"Well, I know most of his past when he stopped in, but some of it is blurry almost, like that memory of his in this tank. It's dark and green almost. There are lots of people there, mostly military personnel, drinking and observing him, like he was an animal on display. There was something about all those memories of his before and then something about erasing it. I can't tell what was there, but it was horrible, from what I saw."

Jean was silent. She had seen that particular memory in his mind as well, but was scared to say anything else, even to Logan when she saw it. It was a memory that she could not forget either. Her face betrayed that she too had known what Danielle was talking about.

"Do you think anything else could help him?" Jean asked her, knowing the answer herself.

"No, nothing that would help him mentally," Danielle replied. "Some things are just meant not to be reopened. I'm sure that it will come back in time, but seeing William Stryker in there…it was a little disconcerting. Could Logan have been one of his weapon experiments? It would have made sense, with the adamantium bonded to his body the way it is."

"If that was the case, then why would William Stryker be involved in eliminating the mutants? He was experimenting on them, if your theory is correct about Logan being either Weapon X or XI."

"Yeah, well, Jean, nothing is making sense to me now. All of you have your doubts and worries. How does it help that we don't unite and speculate later?"

"With Logan around, it's debatable," Jean remarked, willing herself not to display her feelings for the feral mutant. "Scott doesn't…well, he doesn't like him much."

"And I can see why," Danielle replied, seeing the slight pink flush in Jean's cheeks.

"It's not helping our relationship any," Jean would only say on the matter. "On the other hand, Logan is…he's a good person. He can be kind and gentle, when he wants to be."

"_Blunt_ is more like it."

"No, it's almost a subtle nature, like he had been around for more years than all of us put together."

Danielle had to giggle. "Refined? Logan? Really, Jean, and you thought that my mind was corrupted."

Jean had to giggle too, but it was softer, as if she was guarding something close to her heart, but would not reveal it. "No, really. You have to get to know him better. Besides, he seems to like you more than me right now."

"Me? Are you serious?" Danielle had to balk. "I'm married."

"Not happily, I've heard."

"That's beside the point. The point is that I'm married. I can't be running after people like I used to. I'm not some teenager in for some one-night stand anymore."

"You want a relationship."

"Right. And I don't think Logan has it in him to have one, even after all these years."

"Well, we'll see." Jean sat down next Danielle, taking her hands. "I'm sure Scott will appreciate him being off of my trail. And he'll have less to hate. Both of you are out of his way."

"Not what I was envisioning, but that works on my end too," Danielle replied, hearing something in the distance recesses of her mind. Jean had heard it too, but the two could not tell what the message was, only the last words and the bearer of the news.

_I'm in my office now…_

"Was that the Professor?" Danielle asked, rubbing her head to free the new ache in it.

"I'm sure it was," Jean replied, getting up and helping Danielle do the same. "Let's go."


	10. Coming Together Under One Banner

Xavier had already gathered Ororo, Scott and Logan in his office. Jean and Danielle jogged in some minutes after the trio did, apologizing about their tardiness, even if all involved didn't care, even Xavier. They then took seats away from each other (Jean next to Scott on the left and Danielle on Ororo's right), supporting the appearance that they were just walking together and not acting like the girls they used to be. Of course, Xavier knew better and smiled, but it was much more than Jean and Danielle catching up. It was time to get the X-Men plus Logan together, even if the latter was not outwardly interested and leaned forward in his seat calmly enough to display his own sense of concern.

"We all know who we are, so let's proceed onward," Xavier started solemnly, getting the point quickly. "Now, there have been claims that mutant camps are being developed as we speak, possibly something that relates to the bomb planted here five years ago. This has been confirmed by Danielle here. However, there is more to what meets the eye here, much more so than the paperwork that he left behind so strangely.

"In my research the night before and in looking through old files, there have been some discouraging rumors and encouraging truths to this claim. The negative has been overwhelming, I must say. Trask Industries has been building prisons for mutant criminals convicted of any misdeed, but none of the company's owners have had their names written on any of the paperwork surrounding these supposed camps. Officially, paperwork being shown with Leon Ellis' name on it pertains to camps being built for said criminals, but it does not tell whether it is for humans or mutants except in the paperwork that was shown in his briefcase, which can or cannot be true. Lastly, throughout all of the years we've gathered information, nothing in his motives tells us that Leon Ellis would support building camps that would hold and eventually kill mutants."

Scott smiled warmly, the first time Danielle had seen it in so long. The statements alone said by Xavier confirmed what he believed, but it still did not shake off the feeling inside of her, of disaster and death. Jean, on the other end of the room, felt the same way, and shared her feelings with Danielle before Xavier went on.

"At the same time though," Xavier continued, "Senator Ellis has been working closely with people who have supported the idea and has been known to now interact with Trask. His cousin's wife, Mary Belkin Ellis, for example, has been clamoring for these camps for a long period of time. Even though her husband, Representative Peter Ellis, has been paving the way towards the idea, without Senator Ellis' approval publically, plans have been drawn up and carried to Trask on his expense, but that piece of information was not found recently, but some time ago by an old friend of mine. However, at the same time, why would Senator Ellis have such paperwork about mutant camps with him, locked up at home? Why would there be a state secret as to what this new camp is being constructed for, if the paperwork did not lead the way to its specifics? It points to a mutant camp surely, if speculation is correct about his blatant mutant hatred. But why hide the truth of the matter in plain sight? And talk about a treaty with our neighboring countries about holding back runaways in there as well?"

"It's all part of a plan if it's true, Professor," Ororo replied. "If this bomb goes off, it covers a long radius. It would also affect other neighborhoods as well. With the information that Ellis might have about this school and the explosion, he could use it to his advantage."

"And the treaty," Danielle added. "Now, there's the blame on human death and it's the mutants' fault, according to him. My husband is notorious for getting his crowds going and off they go. Now, there's war. The camps are a way to punish those who did nothing and at the same time, keep everyone within the borders. Border patrol will step up."

"It makes sense, but I agree with it not being built," Scott replied. "This underground bomb, which is supposedly underneath his very school, hasn't gone off. It's been almost five years now. I think Ellis was stringing us along for something more this entire time."

"It could be, but I doubt it," Jean interjected. "Why would he kill those who were investigating him? What were his real plans with Chameleon and Phineas Teller, if not for these camps? And why use the very same mutants to carry out anti-mutant activity?"

Scott was surprised to be upbraided by Jean, but their varying opinions did not deter him in the slightest. "For all we know, that could be a cloud of smoke too."

"I suspect more," Ororo said. "You know, I am beginning to believe all of this. This can't be an empty threat, especially with the new paperwork found."

"I concur," Logan added without much comment, thinking. Danielle saw that he was deep in thought, but did not bother to intrude on those.

"I would agree with all of those who are supportive of these theories, but we have no solid evidence," Xavier pointed out again. "The two sides are equally split and a seed of speculation always continues to haunt us."

"Danielle did mention seeing what was at Ellis' call center headquarters," Jean remarked, trying to get Danielle to stop sneaking around without informing Xavier. It was a habit she picked up some years back, but it was not going to hinder this new investigation this time.

"And who were you thinking of bringing with you on this innocent trip?" Xavier asked Danielle, his mind penetrating into hers.

_There's something more there, isn't there, Danielle?_

_I think so, Professor. An innocent trip there indeed!_

"Actually, I was telling Jean how much Logan would be perfect for this excursion," Danielle replied boldly, annoyed with Jean and promising herself not to tell her secrets anymore…if she could help it. "There are no files or other paperwork on him, as far as we know, and he'll be camouflage and protection at the same time. I have access there anytime I want and my husband is away. Not to mention, he doesn't know that I've run off on him yet. It might be the perfect time to get the information that we need before the first strike. We'd be ready then."

"Yeah, it'll be perfect when someone finds out where you've been," Scott pointed out.

"I thought my hacking skills were more than above par and could erase anything," Danielle answered almost sarcastically, revealing another skill that would have shut Scott up, but almost did not had another cut in into the conversation first.

"Regardless," Xavier interrupted. "We must unite under one banner and examine anew this latest menace. Danielle, it's a good idea to go there. Take Logan with you. I'm sure they are plenty of ways to make sure that you're both unseen."

Danielle, without knowing it, accidentally heard Logan's thought. _A pregnant woman and me, unseen? With her as Ellis' wife, she's bound to be known by someone and see what she's done._

"Storm, take Jean and head down to Trask Industries," Xavier continued. "There's a small branch stationed in New York City. See how much information you both can receive by playing the other side of the issue. I'm sure, for reassurance's sake, that Trask will have something that will calm down those who are not inclined towards mutants."

"You really think that Trask is going to reveal anything about those camps they don't have any official business with?" Ororo asked, perplexed.

"If you play your cards right, I'm sure they would," Xavier replied, smiling and then turning to Scott. "Scott, I need you take me down the same route Storm and Jean are heading, except towards the other side of the city."

"Where?" Scott asked, ready to go.

"I need to go to the Stock Market Exchange," Xavier answered calmly. "I'm sure, with years behind us, that Senator Ellis would answer some questions for us himself."

Danielle shot a dirty look, thinking Xavier insane for even trying that tactic, but Xavier held his hand up to quiet her and the rest of the group before an argument ensued. "No. I've known Senator Ellis for many years now, even if we were on the other side of the mutant issues for the past forty plus years now. With his years in the Army behind him and the rest as a Congressman, wouldn't you think the man had some honor and would tell the truth?"

"As a politician, no," Logan commented.

"In either case, it's worth it to have a better look at the senator," Xavier replied. "Danielle, when will you be leaving with Logan?"

"Today, if I have someone to watch Michael," Danielle said. "I don't want him anywhere near this."

Ororo quickly volunteered, adding that her assignment with Jean can wait until tomorrow. Scott was willing to take Xavier down to New York City when Danielle and Logan leave, depending on the traffic going into the city. The information brought back with them might help Jean and Ororo with theirs and the advantage might be theirs as well in gaining more insight into Trask.

With a silent dismissal from Xavier, the group dissembled, save for Scott, who waited with Xavier in his office to escort him to a car in the garage. Jean and Ororo had disappeared quickly (with the latter going to find Michael, left with one of the students he bonded to before Ororo left him temporarily), leaving Logan and Danielle outside of Xavier's office. The door had been shut, leaving the two with some privacy.

"You think you can handle this?" Logan asked her, blatantly pointing out her large curve.

"It's not like I'm physically fighting anyone," Danielle pointed out, walking away from Logan. "Besides, I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself."

"Hey, hey, wait up," Logan called out to her, jogging to catch up with the fast-paced woman as she continued to walk down the hallway without stopping. "How did you know?"

"Know what?"

"About me. How did you know about me? You said I could leave no paper trail."

For once, Danielle could not reply without hurting Logan. She stopped suddenly, feeling Logan run into her back. Of course, she did not pay much attention to that. It was his question. To tell the truth was to hurt him and it was the last thing she wanted to do to him, even if he annoyed her greatly. Even so, the truth might have him more curious than ever.

And that would be a bitter apple to bite into indeed.

"Well," Danielle began, trying not to stammer as her mutant eyes turned from red to hazel again, "I can almost see people's lives. I'm also a telepath too."

"What's with the eyes?"

"They randomly change color. I can also make myself invisible."

Logan snorted, crossing his arms and sounding amused. "Show me."

"No, not now," Danielle replied, almost acting like a strict mother to Logan in chastising him, but was conveniently not telling him about her other powers. "We have some work to do. The call center is closing by five today and I want enough time to get in and out of there."

The two started walking again, this time towards the garage. As they stepped down into the lobby and turned down another hallway towards it, Logan grinned. He also started chuckling to himself softly, thinking of a funny joke most likely. Danielle did not want to intrude into his mind, so asked him outright what was so funny at a time like this.

"Is there any way possible that I can drive, Mother?"

"Really?" Danielle asked sarcastically, purposely jingling her keys in her pocket to show him indirectly who had the upper hand. "No, you can't."

"Why not, Miss I'm-About-To-Pop?"

"Because my car is recognizable there. Anything else would have red flags going up. Do you have any other stupid questions?"

Logan had none. He even felt slightly embarrassed, but did not want to confirm Danielle just how much.


	11. Boundaries

Logan and Danielle stayed quiet for the ride westward as the CRV rode smoothly through most of Westchester County's towns. When Danielle finally reached Tarrytown and announced that they were almost there, Logan almost breathed out a sigh of relief from the long journey, which had been about an hour. Instead, he growled quietly as a response, squeezing on the door handle that never seemed to open from the inside. Nothing had been said by Danielle as to why yet, but Logan had a feeling that it had something to do with her son and the child safety locks most parents were paranoid about.

Finally, the two drove up a large brick building at the end of town, a parking garage almost eclipsing it in the front. Logan watched Danielle as she slowed down to the guarded entrance, showed an ID she took out of her large purse as she opened her car window and smiled a winning grin to the guard on duty. The man only had to take one look at her ID and order the other guard to open the barrier to the parking garage. The two waved at her, ignoring Logan in the passenger seat, and recorded in their electric log at the guardhouse the new entry.

"Have a great day, Mrs. Ellis!" the guard at the house said, still waving even as the car passed him and the window went up.

"Don't you ever get tired of that?" Logan asked Danielle as she drove off quietly, noticing too that she didn't say a word of greeting to the guards.

"Tired of what?" Danielle struggled to find a proper parking spot, but it was a Tuesday. The garage was going to be crowded midweek.

"You're under the public eye with your husband when he allows you. Everyone knows you."

"It's nice sometimes. We're getting into this building, right?"

"Right. But how do you suppose I'll be coming in with you?"

"Guest pass," Danielle answered, sighing with relief when she found a spot to park in on the second floor of the lot. The CRV halted in that spot and the engine was turned off. "And nobody is going to have a picture of you somewhere public, which makes it ideal for you to come with me, like I said."

"Again, I'm curious. How do you know so much about me?"

"I told you my abilities, Logan. You can figure it out from there."

"You want to read my mind? Tell me something that nobody's been able to tell me?"

The last question was asked with an egotistical snicker. Danielle ignored it, annoyed by Logan's macho side. She sensed that it was an attitude that helped to mask his insecurities and for feeling lost. She wouldn't answer Logan, but opened her car door, motioning that Logan do the same before someone caught them on camera, saying the wrong thing. Then, as the two walked and Danielle locked the car, her head tilted this way and that in an almost sexual manner and hid her face, and it caught Logan's attention completely. What he soon realized was that she was showing him where the cameras were, so that he could get out from under their glaring red lights.

And they were everywhere. Danielle showed her face when it was needed and unavoidable, but she tried keeping her and Logan under the shadows. Then, when the two rounded a corner and were heading towards the stairwell, Logan saw that Danielle stopped at a corner post. She felt around her large belly and into a pocket of her pants. Pulling out a Swiss Army knife, she popped open a compartment Logan didn't notice before. She then cut some of the wiring and then put the cubicle back together.

"Cameras?" Logan asked her, but he knew the answer, also thinking of how easily he could have done it for her with his own claws.

Danielle nodded slightly, knowing that all the cameras in the garage would be disabled with that one sabotage (and would take some hours to fix), the other compartment being inside the building, somewhere in one of the hallways. Without everyone watching them through the lens, Logan gently took Danielle's arm and linked it with his. She did not argue, he observed, and even accepted going first through the door when he held it open for her.

Inside, though, it was a different story. As soon as Logan and Danielle went down the stairs, she unlinked her arm from his and walked casually down the hallway that zigzagged from one place to another, like she didn't know Logan or was treating him like he was diseased. As soon as they reached the doors to the office after taking a few turns, Logan again opened the door for her, but was greeted with little fanfare by the receptionist, who recognized Danielle instantly and was excited to see her.

"Mrs. Ellis, what a pleasure to see you again!" the receptionist exclaimed, ignoring Logan still. "What brings you there?"

"Well, Cherie, my husband is out of town, so I'd thought to get reports of the statistics for the site," Danielle lied smoothly, her face a stoic surprise to Logan. "Is my office still open?"

"No, it's not because of the renovations being done to it, but I'm sure Mr. Ellis would allow you to use his office," Cherie replied cheerfully, now eying Logan with some suspicion. "The statistics should be on his drive as well."

"Oh, may I introduce Logan?" Danielle asked Cherie, seeing her social faux pas. "He's with me today. Do you have an extra guest pass?"

Cherie still looked at Logan with little trust, but obliged Danielle. She went into her own small cubicle and came out with one on a lanyard, handing it to Danielle, who in turn handed it to Logan, motioning that he leave the lanyard around his neck. He obeyed and said nothing, preferring to cross his arms in a set stubbornness that made both women pause. Then, Cherie cleared her throat.

"I'm excited about the new baby," she chattered on inanely, sounding cheerful when she obviously was discomforted by the foreign presence. "I'm sure Michael is too. When will he be born?"

"Three weeks," Danielle said through grinding teeth, irritated not only the question, but also the way Cherie was treating Logan. The more she didn't trust him, the more attention they were going to draw soon enough.

Danielle did not anticipate this bump in the road. Cherie was normally a positive person, bright and bubbly, who did not mind anyone, but there was something about Logan that was disquieting her and it wasn't just his demeanor either. She had thoughts about something else, something that she did not want Danielle to know about…

_The animal's a mutant, just like Mrs. Ellis!_

Danielle almost jumped with fright at the hateful thought, but shook her head, smiling. "Well, Cherie, we better get going. Is it all right that I just go ahead and bring Logan in with me to the other office?"

"I'm sure Mr. Ellis would like to be called first…" Cherie trailed.

"Oh, then I can call my husband for permission –" Danielle only had to say, not quite finishing her sentence either.

"Well, I'm sure he won't mind then." Cherie quickly used her own ID to swipe an electric key entry, allowing Logan and Danielle through. She seemed nervous, to say the least, and even tugged at her collar as she wished the two well.

However, Danielle knew she was still being watched and was probably going to be called about soon enough, hence her hurrying. As Logan stoically walked with her across the call floor and down another hallway at the other end on the left, he knew that Cherie watched the pair with misgiving. What he didn't know, though, were her thoughts, especially putting two and two together. After all, Peter Ellis was not in his office that day and it seemed unbelieving that his cousin's wife would come in at such a time, especially when Trask Industries was so interested in Senator Ellis' new campaign for next year.

Cherie turned to her own cubicle and picked up her phone. She dialed a familiar number to New York City, waiting for the person on the other end to pick up, hoping that he was not busy with business. When he did, she whispered what was going on, especially the new person who entered, and waited for instructions.

"Find out who the man is," Leon Ellis, who was on the other end, said to Cherie. "As for my lovely wife…make sure she does not leave without what she originally came for. If there is anything wrong, let me know. I have plans for her."

~00~

Danielle walked faster than Logan had ever seen her before and had a hard time keeping up with her, wondering how a pregnant woman can stride that quickly. He even saw her take rapid sweep under a mat from someone else's office while walking and gained a gold key, hugging it to herself, like it was extremely precious to them. Next, making sure that Logan was still within the shadowy walls, she took a detour to another corridor and stopped at another compartment in a shadowy corner, repeating the same procedure she did with the other in the parking garage. The cameras in their corners turned off, the characteristic red lights dimming to black. Danielle smiled, hiding her tool and moving on.

Logan eventually caught up with her, but it wasn't until they had climbed up to another floor and had taken the first right-hand turn into another corridor. At a dead end, some renovation work was being done to an office, but the next door was closed and appearing to be locked. While workers joked around and headed to their designated lunch shifts, leaving the messy space conspicuously empty, Danielle and Logan made their way to the closed office door, the former unlocking it with the golden key. The door easily creaked open, allowing the two to be led in.

"This is my husband's cousin's office," Danielle explained to Logan as the door closed behind them, taking a mysterious disc out of her purse. As she seated herself in front of the computer comfortably, she booted the machine up and inserted her disc in before it was fully functional, closing the drive. She added, "I'm just going to make sure that no trace of what I've done is on this computer except for what I said I came here for. That way, we can get the information we sought and can leave."

"And the cameras you disabled?" Logan asked, unable to contain some of his amusement.

"Oh, it'll take them a while to get those back working," Danielle replied casually as she bypassed the password page and was on the desktop. "They won't tell me anything because I might tell my husband. As far as I know, Cherie doesn't have a direct line to Leon unless for emergencies."

Logan said nothing in return, but walked over to look over Danielle's shoulder as she navigated through folder after folder on Peter Ellis' desktop. Most of the material was related to elections, their results and maps of the US in favor of this candidate and that. Nothing seemed to be directing them to the mutant problem on the continent, but something caught Logan's attention when Danielle finally opened Windows Explorer and went through the files there, starting on C drive. One was labeled "Dusty Plains", which seemed out of place to Logan after many of them directly told of its contents. He pointed it out to Danielle, having her double-click on it to see what was inside.

"What do we have here?" Logan asked sarcastically as diagrams and paperwork flooded their eyes. "The asshole seems to have his whole plans open."

Danielle eyed the material, in good spirits as she did. "Yes, he did. I wouldn't have thought to check this file. Thanks, Logan."

"Don't thank me now. Look!" Logan pointed to a specific subtitle on the file, simply labeled "Boundaries". When Danielle clicked on it, it showed the treaty outline, to be signed later in the year by the US, Canada and Mexico and the patrolling of all borders and within domestic lines.

"How do we know this isn't real?" she asked Logan, scrolling through the main camp on the northern continent, which was yet to be located and built.

"Why would it be there?" Logan asked in return.

"True, but it doesn't answer if and where Leon is involved," Danielle replied, printing all the documents they found. When voices were heard on the outside, she whispered, "I'm sure they are together on this. We'll take these back to the Professor and see what he makes of it. Then, we can go from there. I'm sure his trip to the city will yield little results, but we'll see."

Logan, listening to the men on the other side in the hallway as well, perked his ears for a moment before pointing out another subtitle in the file. When Danielle clicked on it, it showed yet another set of information that they could perhaps bring back with them. Danielle set the computer to print them, closed the files out and took the disc out of the drive. She then proceed to continue with her cover-up story, printing out the statistics to the company and depositing them in her purse, along with the paperwork they needed to bring back.

She and Logan did not exchange a single word afterward. When they left the office, locking it behind them, they walked confidently back to Cherie's front workplace, dropping the key back in its original spot. Both were confident that they had the evidence they needed.


	12. Picking Wars

Scott and Xavier had an uneventful trip to the city from Westchester, but it wasn't meeting Ellis that had the two of them in utter agitation. While Scott was sure that the whole thing was a hoax and that Danielle was back at the school to cause more trouble, Xavier was thinking the opposite. He had his qualms about Ellis as always, most likely seeing the senator as using mutants for tools before showing the world how dangerous they supposedly were, hence his theory that he used Chameleon to plant that bomb under the school.

Then again, Chameleon had been missing since 1997, the last trace of him being around Teller's bar before the threat was revealed. Xavier had not been able to locate the mutant since, but had ideas on where he might have been. The theory had been that Ellis had him killed, but Xavier had the uncanny notion that Chameleon had simply vanished into thin air, resourceful as he was then in Vietnam and now back home. He didn't think that the mutant was dead, as many thought, his daughter excluded, but was sure that he was being used, most likely as a mercenary.

Where the bomb was though, nobody knew. That was the problem, folding out into smaller dilemmas, almost like a flower blooming and spreading its pollen. Xavier wanted to minimize that panic when the time came unlike the spread of seed, but for the time being, his decision in making this a private investigation was working out splendidly. He was sure that Danielle and Logan would dig up something and that Storm and Jean would find something of worth at Trask. For the time being though, somewhat handling the man who started this misery would be the ideal beginning.

Xavier had an idea of where Leon Ellis was. When Danielle communicated to him concerning her husband the past few months, she was sure that he would be talking with Trask Industries' CEO down at the Stock Market Exchange on Wall Street. She knew that so much of Ellis' money was tied up in the company and that his interests were purely in them, but Xavier was more focused on their plans and not just the money trail. He had added much more importance in his own students than where politicians would spend their wages on, but in this case, the money trail was leading to where his own interests were.

Scott eventually parked the vehicle they traveled with in a parking lot some distance from their destination, near the British Garden at Hanover Square on Pearl Street. He then paid the parking meter heavily, not sure on when they'd be back, and helped Xavier into his wheelchair, starting the trek down the streets in the beautiful spring weather New York City barely had. Some minutes later, when they reached Wall Street, they waited at its bottom steps, content on watching the well-dressed people and some protestors meander and go about their way, crowding the busy sidewalks. When Scott secured Xavier's chair to one corner, he proceed to get beverages from a street vendor for refreshment, handing Xavier a bottle of water as he drank out of a bottle of Coca Cola.

As he drank his bottled water, Xavier scanned the building, to see if Ellis was there and when he might come out for lunch. Luckily, he found the senator, seeing that his lunch was just minutes away. Xavier then tugged at Scott's sleeve, reminding him to keep a watch out for Ellis, who was bound to see them in plain sight once he came down those stairs. In any case, Scott's ruby-quartz eyewear was already attracting unwanted attention from others around the Wall Street facility, something that would facilitate some unwanted comments too. Ellis was sure to follow those clues to them as well.

Xavier put a reassuring hand on Scott's arm as he stood beside him, arms crossed with his Coke bottle nearly empty in one hand. He knew what Scott was thinking about somehow and it wasn't just about his dislike of not just Logan, but Danielle as well. Scott always had his strong opinions about Ellis and how he thought that the senator was stringing them along this entire time. He was sure that sending Danielle with Jayden to Phineas Teller's bar was a grave mistake, a step in the wrong direction, and he said so to Xavier even on many occasions, trice in the last two days alone. He also did not like the two joining X-Men, thinking that they were too dangerous and cocky to be in such a serious group. Jayden Mitchell was ex-Army, dangerous with his PTSD and already in hot water with his wife's family, who was related to Ellis distantly and had control over his son. His sister was shoddier in his view, picking up the habits of her brother when she was thirteen and not bothering to hide the fact. Worse, she flaunted lovers and favors from fifteen on, until her marriage three years later.

While Xavier did not share Scott's opinions on the two Mitchells, he felt that Scott had a deep, underlining cause of disliking the two siblings and it was affecting not just the way he was conducting himself, but also in concerns to Logan as well. With discord within the X-Men come the same distrust and a shortage of teamwork. Xavier was afraid that it would begin once Danielle set foot in the mansion and inputted once more, but it was not apparent yet. With Logan though, he had a feeling it had to do with their fight over Jean, although those feelings might be changing soon enough, he felt, and perhaps for the better.

For about ten minutes, Xavier brooded over the dysfunctions of his team when Ellis appeared outside, walking within the crowds. He turned around aimlessly on the sidewalk, as if looking for someone or something, but had quickly found Scott and Xavier instead of his usual company. He then strode over to them, like he had been meeting with them after all, and stood over Xavier, feeling superior in every way. Ellis towered a few inches over Scott as well, which made his egotistical attitude all the more unbearable.

"What do you want, Xavier?" Ellis asked careless, pulling his sleeve back to enunciate the time by showing off his gold watch. "I have an appointment with Trask in the afternoon after my lunch with its CEO."

"Oh, nothing out of the ordinary," Xavier replied as Scott gripped his soda bottle tighter. "I was wondering if you'd answer a few questions."

"If this has something to do with my wife, I have nothing to say," Ellis immediately pointed out, crossing his arms to emphasize that point, typical of most politicians.

"No, not her, but the millions of lives you're probably going to kill off if this damned thing is true," Scott said angrily from the side.

"Maybe it'd be better if we went someplace more private," Xavier interjected, trying to draw away from the crowds gathering in and out of their circle.

"No, no, here would be good." Ellis purposely took out a cigarette and lit it in front of his company. As he exhaled smoke in Scott's face, he added, "Ask away. What do you want to know?"

"No, not wanting to know, but _needing_ to know," Xavier responded. "Tell me, Senator Ellis. Where is your weapon of mass destruction that we've heard so much about and teased us about? Where can we find it?"

Ellis coughed out smoke, laughing as he did, but for the first time, he showed honesty on his face. "Professor Xavier, you amuse me. Do you really expect me to say anything about a weapon I supposedly have any affiliation to? I've shown you that it exists. I've sent you a riddle. What more do you want from me?"

Scott, without thinking, took Ellis by his shoulders and slammed him against the base of a statue. "You know what he _needs_, Senator. Answer him."

_Scott, put him down_, Xavier ordered him telepathically. _We need Senator Ellis for answers, not fights. He wants one, but he won't get one._

While Scott obeyed Xavier, Ellis had no worries about being assaulted again and said so, turning his face into a mask of nothingness. He added, "I'm not afraid of you _mutants_. Your time will come. You'll see. And it'll be closer in the future than you think."

"What do you mean, Senator?" Xavier called out as Ellis then started to walk away, throwing his cigarette at a protestor. "Our time to co-exist is now. Why other time would there be?"

Ellis stopped and turned around back to the pair. "Humanity does not belong in a world with mutants, Professor Xavier. We don't share the planet with those who have the power to destroy mankind and rule it with an iron hand."

"And you think yourself different than a slave-owner or a bully to a gay student?" Xavier asked him. "Mutants are the same as humanity, Senator. We breathe, feel and function like humans do. We love and hate. We also have the same mind capacities as humans do. How are we such a threat? How have we created a world in which there is fear, when there has been no reason why? Where has the mutant community gone wrong with humanity?"

"Ah, so many questions from one who is said to have a keen mind," Ellis replied casually once more, a keen interest in both Scott and Xavier showing in his eyes. "Professor Xavier, who is to say when a mutant can destroy buildings with his eyes, control our minds or even disappear? With those powers alone, one can commit a terrorist act, make one kill another or rob a bank without detection. How can _beings_ with those kinds of powers _feel_ anything a human does, like fear, like you so elegantly point out? _They_ are the one who create the fear, not humanity!"

Ellis then turned to Scott. "Besides, who can tell when the best of the military minds ends up with a freak and dies in a plane crash while his children live to tell the tale?"

Xavier stayed Scott before he grabbed the senator again. However, there was something else that caught his attention and it wasn't just Scott's anger. He suddenly had a picture from Ellis' mind, from a night some years before from the looks of it. He could not tell where it was, but that it was in the woods somewhere on his school grounds. He then saw the senator himself and Chameleon. The former was lecturing the latter instructions on what to do, but he could not make out the words. What they were doing then, Xavier could not clearly discern, but he was sure that it was concerning the time in which the bomb was planted at his school.

_If only I could see it more clearly! I could see something, but…_

"And quite frankly, Professor Xavier, your coming here has only made my convictions more solid," Ellis continued. "Now, if you'd both excuse me, I have an important lunch to attend to and then my appointment."

Ellis turned around once more and mingled in with the new crowds, disappearing before Scott or Xavier could say another word. Xavier, however, had received what he needed out of Ellis, even if Scott did not. The latter even forgot about his soda bottle, dropping it to the ground as he crossed his arms again in consternation. He, unlike Xavier, was anxious about what was now next. Speculation lined his faced, confused that even his own viewpoints had been squashed by a mere senator, and one that freely admitted his own faults. Scott had confidence in himself and what he believed in, but to hear that a threat was now on his home, and that it was true, slapped him in the face of reality.

Xavier saw this and sought to reverse its effects. "Come, Scott. Let's go back to the school. I think we have what we need here."

"And a lot more than we bargained for, I guess," Scott replied, turning to wheel Xavier away from the building. "So, it is true."

"When hasn't it been?" Xavier asked him kindly. "We all thought it was a joke, Scott. You weren't the only one."

"It means that Danielle had been right this entire time," Scott mused as they walked back to the car. "And she was stupid enough to marry him."

"To keep him at bay, most certainly," Xavier soothed, thinking that that rash action may have served them little time, but not a lot. "Don't be too hard on yourself, Scott. The best thing that we should all do right now is work together. I'm sure that Logan and Danielle gained some leeway at Ellis' call center. Combined, I think Jean and Storm would be able to infiltrate Trask and gather more information."

Scott mumbled something about Logan, but Xavier let it be, not wanting to know what it was about. He also knew when to pick his battles, but there was much more to Scott's frustration than what the eye could see. And it also wasn't about Logan and Jean and even the truth of the matter finally registering with him.

It was best to move on with the research, Xavier reasoned as they drew closer to the car. Tomorrow, Ororo and Jean would find out more with Trask and use what they have for leverage.

* * *

**The reference to Scott's father was actually based on his character biography in the comics. Scott Summers grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, but was orphaned early in life. His father was Air Force Major Christopher Summers, who, along with Scott's mother, pushed him and his brother Alex out of a plane while on vacation as the plane was being chased and losing control. The two were strapped into parachutes and were saved, but separated into foster homes. At sixteen, Scott joined Xavier's school.**

**Depending on which comic universe you read, Scott also has lost a lot of his childhood memories and was also known to have a poor control over his powers because of it. But the mental blocks were broken by the time of Jean Grey's perceived death and the rebirth of the Dark Phoenix, all with a little help from Emma Frost. Hey, and it also proves that he wasn't the only one who has lost memories. :)**


	13. Unmerciful Disasters

Logan and Danielle crept out of the building reasonably quickly and were back on the road without anyone behind them, a sure sign that things went undetected for the most part. This time though, the two had exchanged no words, except to say goodbye to Cherie at the front (and listen to her apologies concerning the cameras, which would be passed along to the senator soon enough). On the ride back through the county, Logan decided to study the pregnant woman once more as she drove, concentrated as she was on the road and not to her passenger.

As they drove out of Tarrytown and stopped at a red light at the next town over, Logan read her without speaking, studying the mutant with newer eyes as she turned the radio on softly and smiled at the song playing. Even with the tough and motherly (albeit annoyed) exterior, Logan could see the hard life etched into her hazel eyes. Occasionally during the wait at the light, she flashed red mutant eyes, but it was when nobody was around and when she herself did not realize that someone was looking. Dark circles rounded those eyes, deep-set with black and purple smudges. Her rigid posture even suggested that she was guarding something, secrets that she didn't want to share, and it wasn't about to crack anytime soon. Logan had not even known her for two days, but could already sense that she had too many ups and downs in her life, probably more of the latter, and that was what kept her so reticent.

And those dog tags next to the sun and moon pendants. Who did they belong to and what did they mean? Danielle seemed old, in her thirties maybe, but didn't seem the type to be in the military. Most would have put theirs away to begin with, but others might wear somebody else's, someone close and special to them, or in his case, to identify himself. They might have been someone now dead that was dear to Danielle, but Logan could not be so sure. That mischievous side of her that never showed might let up something soon.

The light turned green and Danielle's foot greatly dropped on the gas pedal, almost causing the tires to screech and burn. Her forehead then started to heavily wrinkle, like she was thinking of something, but then she changed back to her mask, the one that kept everyone at bay, away from her problems. All of this was weighing her down. Her marriage was killing her, married to an enemy as a bargain. Her children were her life, the only driving force in her life.

"Logan, stop."

Danielle spoke lightly with a tinge of hysteria, but she didn't sound angry or worried. Indeed, Logan had detected some longing in her voice, like she needed to tell someone _something_, but she was stopping herself. She also probably heard some of what he was thinking too, but had to say anything to get him to cease his speculations.

"I can't wonder, huh?" Logan teased her, but he saw the pain in her eyes and stopped.

"Wonder all you want, but it isn't going to get you anywhere."

"Ask and you shall receive someday?"

"Exactly. But I'm not going to tell everything, to be honest with you. I don't know you. You haven't given me a reason to trust you completely."

"And you didn't just trust me with your life in there, not to mention your child's?" Logan was slighted somewhat, but did not want to show Danielle how much.

"I did it because you wouldn't be recognized," Danielle replied through gritted teeth as she slowed to another red light, repeating herself for at least the third time. "It required some trust, yes, but because you've already proven yourself to the Professor in something. And that's good enough for me."

Already, another stanza of "The Raven" made itself known in Danielle's mind, something that both stung and soothed her as Logan shot her a questioning glance.

_Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,__  
__"Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store."__  
__Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster,__  
__Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore –__  
__Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore__  
__Of "Never-nevermore."_

An uneasy smile rippled across Danielle's face. Logan caught that too, but could not tell what it was for. Whatever it was, it was bringing back something bittersweet.

"So, you seem to know so much about me," Logan said in an almost begging tone, the sentence repeated too from hours before. "Tell me about yourself."

"I began at the school when I was five," Danielle began, driving onward once more as she was allowed to. "My mutation had manifested itself at the most unlikely time, younger than most mutants. I should have lived a normal life for another ten years or so, but I didn't. My whole family has some form of mutation, going back generations."

Logan heard that Danielle wasn't going to say when and how things happened and let it go. He allowed her to continue.

"I spent several years there, graduated when I was sixteen. I joined the X-Men the year before I graduated. I was too far ahead of my peers already, which caused some animosity. I think you know who that would be."

Logan sensed again that there was more (suspecting Scott to be her antagonist too), but let that be also. "What made you marry that creep?"

"Oh, Leon? It was a deal. I married him and he kept the bomb from exploding. I thought that you knew that already."

"I've heard some rumors and stories, but I'll keep that to myself, darlin'."

Danielle again felt the flirtatious feelings around Logan and had an idea that he wanted more information, but did not allow herself the luxury of confidence just yet. She admitted it. She could not trust Logan enough. But there was always something about that feral mutant that made her pause. He was an outsider, that much she saw. He was a loner, always able to live off of the land and not attract attention, being off the grid constantly. And he was loyal. It was a trait long forgotten in many men, but in Logan, there was that side that would always be faithful to something close to him.

Then again, Danielle knew that all close to Logan had died or betrayed him in some fashion. Maybe it was now time to change that for him, even if he could not remember it yet.

"Oh?" Danielle raised an eyebrow as she drove on, narrowing her eyes as she saw a police roadblock up ahead, appearing to be akin to a DUI checkpoint. "And what did you hear about me? That I poison young persons' ears with venom? That I'm a fabulous cook, but kill slowly with mercury? That I've betrayed the mutant community as a whole by marrying the same person persecuting them?" She snorted. "Did I cause that much of a stir at Xavier's already?"

Logan heard her laughter, a genuine bellow that made him sigh with some relief. The sound was uplifting, comforting really. And it was honest, unlike the deception she wore constantly. It was pure sarcasm blended with the want (and need, perhaps) to laugh off the problems.

"I guess so." Logan put a protective hand on Danielle's as she drove, almost like he was helping her steer. "Don't let them bother you."

Logan then saw the frown that crossed Danielle's face. He thought for a moment that he went too far by touching her, but when he saw who was at the roadblock just a hundred feet away, he froze. He immediately took his hand off of hers and sat back down in his seat, invisible and anonymous. He buckled up his seat belt, unaware of what might be ahead of them with the flashing police lights, and rubbed his knuckles. He was tensed up, but ready.

Danielle slowed the vehicle and then braked at the side of the road, sighing as she put the car into the parking gear. She then put on her best smile, immediately taking out the car insurance and registration from the glove box in front of Logan. When the police officer tapped on her window, asking for all paperwork, she was standing by, handing everything out of her purse as well to identify who she was. When the officer asked for Logan's ID, Danielle explained smoothly that he was visiting from Canada and had no ID card on him. His passport had been left at the hotel he was staying in. She added that she didn't expect to be stopped.

It had taken little time for the paperwork to come back. However, it wasn't the same police officer that stopped them that had come back. An unknown man (in an expensive suit and tie ensemble) to Logan had appeared, carrying all of Danielle's things. Tall with light brown hair already greying and a largely demeaning statue, the man grinned at Danielle, like she was a catch of the day, and thrust her paperwork back at her rudely.

"Peter," Danielle greeted cordially enough, taking her things from him and handing all to Logan. She did not separate what needed to go where just yet and did not ask him to do so.

"Ah, Danielle," the man named Peter replied. "My cousin, what brings you around these parts? I thought you would have been at home with Michael."

"I have someone watching my son while I run errands, thank you," Danielle replied guardedly. "I was curious about the statistics at Leon's call center. I thought to print them out for him, since I've noticed the last of his visits there have lately been sporadic. He also does not know what the polls are about as of late."

"And you did nothing in your own office?" Peter asked her as he revealed his contention, his tone becoming more threatening. "I would have thought you would have used your own office for that information, since it is assessable there as well as mine."

Logan almost popped his claws out, but calmed down quickly. Danielle had somehow gotten into his mind, enveloping him in some sort of soothing cocoon, a feeling that somehow made him wary of her, but also comforted by the maternal presence. It wasn't something she was supposed to do, and he felt that much out of her being there, but it was also an experience he relished in a small way.

_Logan, don't. Leave him alone. He's my husband's cousin and right-hand man._

"My office seemed to have been under some construction." Danielle was annoyed about the situation, but she did not show it in front of Peter. "Cherie mentioned yours and I thought that you wouldn't mind. After all, all the files go to the same drive and we can all access it from the computers on the floor."

Peter Ellis leaned in just so, inches from Danielle's face, and breathed in her light almond-like scent, something he had always lusted after since her marriage. Shaking his head from the reverie, he replied, "So, tell me, Danielle. Where is it?"

"Where is what?"

"Whatever it was that you stole from my office. Where is it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Peter." Danielle yawned like she was tired (which Logan assumed she was), looking at the time when she pressed the button on the stereo for it. "I went into your office for some statistics and have them in my purse, just as I said. Want them? I can get another copy later."

Peter ignored the response, but instead was more interested in Logan suddenly, seeing him forlornly searching for something from his window. "And who is he?"

"Oh, how thoughtless of me! Peter, this is Logan. Logan, this is Peter Ellis, my husband's cousin."

"Where did you find him, Danielle?"

"Oh, here and there, I guess. Sometimes everywhere, if you can imagine that."

Peter then thrust his hands into the car, grabbing Danielle by the shirt collar with both hands. Logan saw a look of desperation on her face, but it was short lived. Afterward, she would only smile, laughing as Peter drew her face closer to his. She thought it was a gag, that she wasn't going to get hurt.

Logan had other thoughts. Instinctively, his fist formed a closed ball, but he wasn't too concerning about punching him in the face. His claws were just _itching_ to get out and slice Peter Ellis to ribbons.

_Nobody_ touched a pregnant, defenseless woman like that, even if she appeared to be able to defend herself. Logan was sure on the latter already.

"You think this is funny, bitch?" Peter asked Danielle, spraying spit on her cheeks. "You find him from one of your mutie communities or something? Find a freak that would tolerate your mutie ass and protect you from the humans who mean no harm?"

Danielle soon turned her laughter into a snicker. "I've never thought you two were a joke, Peter. Only sad caricatures of what humanity had been brought to. And I sometimes wonder who brings whom down to their knees."

Peter shoved her back into the car. "I'm faithful to my wife and you know it."

"If that's how you want to interpret my words, then be my guest." Danielle wiped the foreign saliva from her face, hearing Logan's claws pop out from behind her. "Whether it's about domination or about being faithful, it doesn't matter. All that matters in the end is how true you are to yourself. You're the only one you answer to."

Peter ignored Danielle's response, but she was not sure if he saw Logan's adamantium claws, waiting to strike on a second's notice. "We'll be in touch, Danielle. Whatever comes between you and Leon, there will always be someone there to watch out for you."

Danielle and Logan then watched as Peter Ellis exited from the car, motioning with his hands to the police officers that they could pass. When the barrier opened, Danielle turned her car back on and drove through, eager to leave them behind as traffic formed behind them. However, the tenseness Logan had felt had not eased. As Danielle took a turn to take some back roads, she put a gentle hand on his, feeling the ends of the adamantium claws. With one hand on the wheel and the other feeling his, she sensed the anxiousness behind him, gently lessening him back into security. It somehow did not take long again. She backed away as he slid the claws back inside.

"That was close," Danielle said, feeling stupid as the words came out awkwardly.

Logan looked at her as she was driving, aware of where they were, but said nothing. Then, after a few minutes, he only replied, "You have no idea."


	14. Vulnerable

**I saw that I put the wrong chapter (and indeed wrong story) in. I do want to apologize in advance for that. I was in a hurry to get to work this morning and getting my son to daycare. :)**

* * *

Xavier gathered his group back into his office for a debriefing later that evening an hour after his last class ended. While he and Scott had arrived back at the mansion some time before and he made it his last engagement with his students, having been stuck in New York City traffic for some hours, Logan and Danielle had been back since the late afternoon. The two had taken the back roads to get back (the long way), but had parted ways because of Danielle's obligation to her son. However, Xavier had noted a change between the two, like something had cooled off, and checked himself. He had a feeling that something would have happened between them, but right now, it would not do.

It was always easier to warn them both off, Xavier reasoned to himself, and he had many times when Danielle ran off with one older man after another. However, this time, Danielle and Logan were equally emotionally vulnerable at the moment and the two could discern that in each other. At the same time though, what they did in their own time was none of his business unless it affected his team. So far, it had not. The personal would come afterward, he hoped, and would be dealt with at a later point.

It was then that Xavier saw that Danielle had brought Michael with her since nobody was available to watch him that she trusted. Before the meeting even started though, he was asleep on the floor, scattering his toys around him for protection. She had moved to do something about it and tried to excuse herself, but Xavier had silently motioned to her that all was well and that Michael would be safe dozing as they talked. She seated herself, waiting.

"We have a more important agenda to discuss," Xavier announced as all were seated, looking to both Logan and Danielle for what they've found out first. "And what did Senator Ellis' call center convey to us?"

"Everything has been confirmed," Danielle replied almost proudly (thinking that Scott had better not say anything to the contrary) as she pulled the printed paperwork from her purse on the floor and handed it to Xavier. "We also found out a new security team that Trask is putting together, which is used to gather mutants and either incarcerate them or kill them. The plans Logan and I found seemed to be a type of robotic contraption, but I can't tell what it is yet. It's almost seems human and not quite unbreakable."

Xavier only had to look at the depictions printed out. There was a sense that he knew what these machines were and what they were capable of. He said nothing to his team concerning any personal connections to mutant incarceration robots, but Danielle, and perhaps Jean too, had a feeling that Xavier was going to let up on any valuable information from times past and that it would be best to allow him the space to release it whenever possible. In any case, they were not the focus of their investigation just yet.

"And the camps?" Xavier then asked, not out of curiosity, but to prove his point.

"Real," Logan confirmed as he crossed his arms at his seat.

"And your findings with Senator Ellis?" Jean asked Xavier eagerly.

"Not much, but he did confirm that a bomb exists," Xavier responded, thinking back to what Ellis had said about their time coming. "The next step would be to logically determine its location and detonate it before Ellis does. I'm sure he'll see his move within the next few days."

"Obviously," Scott said, now taking his turn and thinking together with the group. "The questions are why he would make a simple riddle, but make it difficult for us to figure out."

"And why would this treaty be signed so soon after its creation," Jean added.

"Is something more connected with Trask?" Ororo asked quietly, thoughtfully even.

"Surely, if these camps are being built and they're the experts on mutant prisons," Scott replied to the query.

Xavier held his hand up for silence. "One thing at a time. The immediate threat to the school needs to be dealt with. Jean and Storm will still handle Trask in the morning, to see if there are any connections from them to us. With this new information, we can move forward towards eliminating them and the possible menace from them to the grounds and the rest of humanity. Danielle, I need you to re-examine the riddle and see if you can find any other clues from it, but don't fret if you can't find something new. If anything, a more direct confrontation with your husband might help us find more, but we already have a short time with that."

Xavier then turned to Scott. "Scott, I need you walk the grounds. Be on the lookout for anything unusual."

Scott was about to protest the order, but Xavier again held his hand up to interrupt. "I understand that we've done this before and many times over. However, it's been five years. I believe that it's time for some fresh eyes on this case. Take Logan with you, if necessary. I'm sure his tracking skills will be essential in finding what we need."

Both Scott and Logan shot each other looks that conveyed their mutual dislike of the other and especially that they had to work together. Logan uncrossed and then crossed his arms again in stubbornness as he sat peacefully enough while Scott's lips pursed into a thin line, keeping quiet on things not meant to be said at the moment. The three women noticed this and kept their merriment to themselves. Ororo covered her mouth to hide her smirk. Danielle and Jean had more control, but it wouldn't be long after the gathering before the two would laugh it out.

"Storm, I would also need you to make sure the children are safely conveyed elsewhere if and when this bomb is detonated," Xavier continued. "They all understand the back passageways, but there is also a shelter in the basement where they can hide. Gather all supplies when possible."

Ororo nodded, putting her hand down to show her seriousness, but her eyes questioned the validity of keeping the children in the school. She voiced that concern, adding, "We would also need a place where those without homes can go to, a secondary location or a safe house, if you will, Professor. There needs to be someplace where Senator Ellis cannot reach us or the children if it comes down to him pressing a button."

"You have a point, Storm, but I would say to search for a more permanent location, but do not say anything to the children," Xavier replied. "As previously mentioned, we do want to keep this as quiet as possible. Any panic now would accelerate fear. Fear is what Senator Ellis would want. It feeds his own maniac passions."

Danielle said nothing about the insults thrown about her husband, but nodded every so often to agree with a point. She was in accord with Xavier most of all, Logan noted, and would not contradict anybody. Perhaps she knew too that her husband was considered a mutant's worst nightmare or a terrorist even. She knew that there was no choice in marrying him, but that the monster within was also in no position to reform, just like Senator Kelly had been.

Xavier dismissed the group, but before Danielle could leave, he turned to her, an urgent swing to his wheelchair. "I have an assignment for you in the morning if you're up to the task," he said to her. "I believe you'll be the only person who can help in this situation. Your powers are usually equipped for what I need you to do."

Daniele again did not say anything. She was discomforted already from all the activity done the past few days (not to mention, her feet had swelled from the driving earlier and she didn't tell Logan about it), but she did not want to complain. Indeed, her interest peeked when Xavier mentioned a use of her powers. As Jean, Scott and Ororo left the room with farewells, she then tilted her head to one side, showing Xavier some of her undivided attention was to him.

"You'll see in the morning," Xavier only responded as a reply to her wordless inquiry. "Now, I'm sure you need to put your son to bed."

"Yes, I should think so," Danielle answered as she smiled. "I probably should wake him and get him ready for bed."

"Hey, no need." Both Xavier and Danielle did not notice that Logan was still in the office. The former was mildly amused (knowing, as he did, about something the two did not) and latter was startled by the declaration. "I can carry him back to your room."

Xavier only waved Danielle away with a grin, pushing her mentally towards Logan and to leave his office for the night. _Be friendly, Danielle. I know he's unbearable sometimes, but there are always ways to put him back in line and to help him heal at the same time._

_Like what?_ Danielle asked Xavier as she started picked up Michael's toys, gathering them in her arms. Logan already had Michael gently in his arms and was about to leave with the sleeping child.

_Well, you can always threaten to change his mind set. Make him think he's a little girl. I'm sure you and Jean would enjoy that._

_Professor! I never knew you had it in you to be so…cruel._

Xavier chuckled out loud. _No, I'm only creative. Good night, Danielle. Make sure to get some sleep._

_Good night, Professor. I will._

Logan then led Danielle out of the room and closed the door behind him. He shot Danielle an inquiring look, wondering where she was bunking for the night. She then cut in front of him without a word and led him down the hallways and to a stairwell. The two walked in silence up a flight of stairs and traveled down another hallway, one that Logan thought didn't exist, since he had used a different way to get to her room previously. About halfway down, Danielle stopped, opening a door to a room with a key hidden in her pocket, hung with her car keys. She allowed Logan in first, pointing to another door on the other side of the room. She then moved ahead opened it for him, watching as he softly placed Michael on his bed, covering him up with a blanket and making sure his stuffed animals were around him. Quietly, he ambled out of the room, as if he was hunting in the woods like a predator and not putting a child to bed. Danielle shut the door behind him.

"Thank you," she said, feeling some red rising in her cheeks as some tenderness for Logan manifested inside of her. "You didn't have to."

"Yeah, well, you all alone and with another kid on the way…you need the help." Logan shuffled his feet, awkwardly standing there and, for some odd reason, not knowing what else to say.

Danielle almost answered his pleas of normalcy. She lightly touched his face with the back of her hand, calming him again, sensing her own longing to feel his roughness, something that she had not felt before. Suddenly though, he grabbed his hand forcefully, but then glided it back to his side almost lovingly, to apologize for the previous action. However, he did not let it go. He only noticed the stoniness of her own reaction and how she did not fight back, accepting what had happened.

"How do you do that?" he asked her.

"Many years of practice," she answered, gazing downward in her own sense of embarrassment. "Logan, I'm sorry. You should leave now."

"And if I don't want to?" Logan asked Danielle softly in a teasing way, his eyes now pleading to stay for a while.

"Logan, I'm a married woman. I don't want this used against me."

"What used against you?"

"There are many things a politicians' wife has to be above. Adultery is one of those things. It can't be known that – you know, that I'm around you constantly."

Logan saw an obvious defeat and accepted it, again feeling the sting of rejection from another woman, and another redhead at that. Whether or not she knew it or not, Danielle was the one who would not allow the conquest to begin with. It would not even start with an emotional assault, not with her or Logan himself. She somehow had an idea that she was attracted to him and him to her, but she couldn't allow it to consume her, especially at such a vulnerable time. She had to push away, even as Logan was coming off from a rebound, a faraway love affair with Jean Grey.

"Give me a few days," Danielle pleaded to him. "I don't want to regret anything or hurt you anymore than you already are. _Please_."

Danielle could not possibly see how falling for Logan happened in such a short frame of time. She was irritated with the flirting, yes, but she could not see where and how she fell for Logan. Maybe it was when they were in the car earlier that day, after Peter had stopped them and demanded his answers? Or when hey first met, when she was highly exasperated with Xavier in bringing someone she did not know into her home? Or perhaps it was when he started to question her on everything, from him or her and back again, many times over?

She didn't know. All Danielle could know was the eagerness in Logan's eyes, just to get to be acquainted with her better. It could have been a typical male's urge to be with a woman he was attracted with instantly, but Danielle could not tell with Logan just yet. She needed the time to sort out her own emotional state, to settle down in something akin to a normal routine, and see that he did too. There were times when she wished for an ordinary life, to have the things a typical, loving family had, and not deal with the frustrations and politics of being a mutant. She was the last surviving member of her family, save for her missing nephew and her children, and she had already felt loneliness from a world that could not understand her nor comprehend the deep scars she cut into daily. She had lost so much in so little of a time, but had also gained notoriety in a world that did not accept her mutations to begin with.

Logan somehow understood that maybe and was surprised by her answer. "I can do that."

"Thank you," Danielle whispered, wrapping her arms around him in a goodbye, hoping that she was not leaning on him too heavily.

The two parted from the embrace quickly and said nothing more. Logan then backed away from her slowly, heading to the door and turning to face Danielle with one last glance. He smiled wanly at her and walked away, shutting the door quietly behind him. Danielle then heard his footsteps trace back the same route they had taken up. Then, his light footsteps echoed as they climbed down the stairs.

Danielle gradually made it to her bed in utter shock, sitting at the edge in thought. As she managed to cross her legs under her, she felt tears roll down her face, the first of many in a long time. It had been over five years since she had experienced the sensation, but it was comforting to feel the trails going down her face once more.


End file.
